


Oh My God They Were Ninjas

by Woofgang69



Category: Naruto
Genre: A lot of chuunin exams stuff, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Kisame Centric, Kisame doesn't join the Akatsuki, M/M, No Uchiha Massacre, Swordsmen of the Mist are alive!, fighting as flirting, one smutty scene towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:35:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 47,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woofgang69/pseuds/Woofgang69
Summary: "How do you know Itachi?"  Kisame shrugged."We've run into each other a few times on missions.  We're….friends I guess?"  The back of his neck was hot and he hoped no one could tell.This is a story about how Kisame met Itachi...and then how he met him again and then again and then again.(No massacre, Kisame doesn't join Akatasuki, more info in notes inside)
Relationships: Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Itachi
Comments: 86
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an in canon AU! There was no Uchiha massacre and Kisame didn't join the Akatsuki, but other than that the plot is mostly the same to true Naruto part 1...with more kissing. Kisame & Itachi meet & fall for each other on random missions!
> 
> I love the Swordsmen, so the ones I like are alive & still in the Mist for this! Zabuza & Haku don't die during the Land of Waves (more info on that when they actually appear); Mangetsu is still alive; and Ameyuri has her mysterious sickness under control! All of the swords are referenced by their names in this! Other than Samehada, I will try to include notes as a reminder to which sword is what when they're mentioned! 
> 
> Thank you so much HelloThereGhoul for helping me write this and just being the best! <3
> 
> And thank you so so much to everyone who reads this!! :)

Kisame hadn’t been sure at first when Mei first told him about her plans for a coup. There were a lot of problems with the village, but what were they supposed to do about it? Ninja were trained to follow orders and fight and not trained in much else. But then he found out about Fuguki selling village secrets and had lost all sense of himself. If Fuguki wasn’t who Kisame thought he was, then what about all of the Mist ninja Kisame had killed on his orders? Were they not who he thought they were either? Each of their deaths hit him all over again after he killed Fuguki as if he had killed them all a second time, and Kisame thought he might drown in his guilt. He felt as he had become lost in the mist and had no idea who he was anymore.

And then Mei found him and told him the village could be better. Told him that they could  _ make _ it better. Kisame still hadn’t been too sure about Mei’s plans, but this time he was willing to help her. He had no idea if they’d be successful, but some part of him still saw the village as something worth protecting. And it’s not like there was anywhere else for someone like him to go.

Their revolution  _ was _ successful, and Kisame was still surprised years later. The Village of the Bloody Mist was gone as was the Monster of the Mist. He was now just Kisame of the Mist and never had to hear ‘finish the mission at all costs’ ever again. Which was great, because his current mission was a complete failure.

* * *

It was supposed to be a routine retrieval mission, so Kisame went alone. He was just supposed to be grabbing some kind of scroll that Ao had described, but he honestly hadn’t paid too much attention to the other man. Ao was a great political advisor for Mei as she tried to reform the village, but he was also boring as hell. He always took forever to say anything, and Kisame usually didn’t care enough to listen closely. He was sure Mei would’ve told him if it was actually important. 

Sneaking into the temple and grabbing the scroll was easy enough. In no time at all Kisame was already on his way back to the village. And then he noticed someone following him. They were doing a pretty good job of it too, but luckily enough for Kisame Samehada had noticed their chakra. He grinned to himself before he stopped running and then turned to face the direction he had come from. “Don’t suppose it’s just a coincidence that you’re going the same way as me.” Kisame couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. Retrieval missions were boring and it had been so long since he had a good fight. He hoped whoever it was following him would be able to last long enough for a decent fight.

“No, it’s not.” An anbu from the Leaf Village appeared from seemingly out of nowhere a few trees away from him. His voice was deep and his dark hair was long, but he was a bit short and gangly like he wasn’t quite finished growing. If he had to guess, Kisame would say that he wasn’t any older than sixteen. His grin grew as he realized that meant this anbu had to be incredibly skilled at something. 

“And I suppose I have something you want.” He unstrapped Samehada from his back, but kept it wrapped in its bandages.

“You do.” The anbu pulled out a kunai. “I don’t suppose you’ll just give it to me?” His voice was light and teasing like they were sharing a joke. It made Kisame’s grin grow even more. 

"Nope." They jumped towards each other at the same time.

Kisame slashed out with Samehada in a wide arc that should’ve hit the anbu even with the way he had jumped to avoid it. But he had thrown his kunai at Kisame in a way that made him shift his arm just enough for him to avoid Samehada entirely. It was clever and it had his blood thrumming. He threw a few more kunai at Kisame as he jumped, but he deflected them with Samehada easily. The anbu didn’t dodge the next swing, and Kisame assumed it was because he was surprised as to how quickly he could change Samehada’s trajectory. He was excited to land a hit, but also disappointed that the fight would be over so quickly.

The anbu’s shape dissolved into a murder of crows. Kisame had never seen a clone like that before and laughed in excitement. He then ducked as he heard a round of shuriken get thrown from behind him. He spun around quickly with Samehada in hand and felt the solidness of the hit this time. The sword just barely hit the anbu, and he was already leaping out of range. He made hand signs quickly as he moved and then a massive fireball was headed towards him. Kisame threw Samehada down and barely had enough time to make the signs for a water bullet. The two jutsus hit each other and erupted into a cloud of steam. 

The steam made it only slightly harder to see the anbu, but it reminded Kisame of how he  _ should _ be handling this fight. He  _ should _ use the Hidden Mist technique, sneak up behind the anbu, and slit his throat. But he was actually having fun. So instead he threw some kunai with explosive tags into the area where he thought he could hear the anbu and then picked up Samehada. Kisame ran at the anbu when the steam cleared, and the anbu blocked Samehada with a kunai. It would’ve been a good block too if Kisame had been anyone else. He pressed down with only a little more force and could see the anbu’s arm buckle. Kisame laughed as he looked at the masked face, but his laugh ended abruptly as they made eye contact. 

The anbu’s eyes were red with three black, comma-like marks surrounding the pupil in each one. Kisame had never seen a sharingan in person before, but he knew enough to recognize one. He also knew all a sharingan-user needed to put someone in a powerful genjutsu was eye contact. “Fuck.” It didn’t  _ feel _ like he was in a genjutsu, but he wouldn’t be able to feel that. He pulled back and tried to release himself from the genjutsu. Nothing changed, which meant it was one of those special ones and that he was fucked.

“You’re not in a genjutsu.” The anbu was still standing right where Kisame had left him and it didn’t seem like he was about to attack him. 

“Yeah right. All a sharingan user needs is eye contact, right?” 

“Correct. Though actually all I need to do is point at someone in order to put them in a genjutsu.” He was pointing at Kisame now. 

“Of course. I’ve probably been in a fucking genjutsu this whole time.” The anbu shook his head, and Kisame was momentarily distracted by the way his ponytail swayed with the motion. 

“I truly haven’t put you in a genjutsu, most likely for the same reason you haven’t used the Hidden Mist technique that I’ve heard all the Swordsmen of the Mist are proficient in.” The anbu still hadn’t made any move to attack him and it didn’t  _ feel _ like he was lying. 

“I see. Does that mean you’re having fun?” The anbu tilted his head at him like a bird would. He wished he could see the other man’s face just so he could tell how he felt about the question.

“I am.” He sounded hesitant and a bit shy, like he was expecting to be told off for having fun. “Are….are you?” Kisame smiled widely.

“I am.” 

They leapt at each other again. They went back and forth with justus, kunai, and Samehada for a long while. It was hard to tell which one of them was stronger--they seemed perfectly matched. Either one of them probably could’ve done something to end the fight at any time, but neither of them did. Kisame was having fun and it seemed like the anbu was too. 

But then he noticed two unfamiliar chakra signatures rushing towards them. The anbu froze, which Kisame took to mean he recognized the approaching ninja. “Friends or enemies of yours?”

“Teammates. They’re probably wondering what’s taking me so long.” Kisame considered his options. He still had plenty of chakra to keep fighting, but had no idea what kind of ninja were approaching. He also didn’t know how serious this anbu would start fighting once his teammates joined. Kisame didn’t want to have to kill him or be killed by him. He took the scroll out of his kunai pouch and tossed it to the anbu.

“Then you better let them know you’re okay. I hope we see each other again sometime, Uchiha." He thought it was a pretty safe guess that the anbu was an Uchiha. He strapped Samehada onto his back and then turned to leave.

"Itachi." Kisame looked back at the anbu as he wasn't sure what that meant. "Itachi Uchiha." Kisame felt like an idiot.  _ Everyone _ knew about Itachi of the Sharingan. He should've figured it out sooner.

"Kisame Hoshigaki. Nice to meet you Itachi." He left just as the other ninja reached the clearing. He glimpsed a shock of silver hair that probably belonged to the Copy Ninja Kakashi.

Ao was going to scold him for coming back without the scroll. But he was sure the other man would understand when he mentioned that he had been up against Itachi of the Sharingan. Or, more likely, he'll probably scold Kisame more for losing it to someone like Itachi. 

* * *

No one had believed Kisame when told them that he lost the scroll to Itachi of the Sharingan. He was offended at the amount of people who told him that he would’ve died if he had actually gone up against the other ninja. Kisame didn’t have a sharingan, but he was still a S-rank ninja in his own right. He was the tailless tailed beast! At least some of his friends should’ve thought that he would’ve won that fight.

Ao had assumed that the scroll had already been stolen before Kisame had gotten there, which wasn’t true but let him avoid getting scolded. He still had no idea what was on the scroll, but guessed it wasn’t that important as he wasn’t sent back out for it. 

Nothing in Kisame’s life changed. He was sent on missions. He took care of Samehada. He helped train the next generation of swordsmen. But sometimes he found himself thinking of Itachi Uchiha and hoping they’d get to fight again. 


	2. Chapter 2

Kisame and Mangetsu had taken Chōjūrō with them on a pretty routine assassination mission. They needed to kill some local businessman or something, so they brought the kid to give him some practice with Hiramekarei. Much to Suigetsu’s annoyance, Chōjūrō was the only other person in the village with an affinity with Hiramekarei. The kid had some skill, but absolutely no confidence in himself whatsoever. So they thought an easy assassination would help him with that.

The assassination itself went well. Kisame and Mangetsu had no trouble getting rid of the cheap guards the guy had hired and then finding the guy in his overly large house. Chōjūrō had some problems getting the density of the mist right, but was able to wield Hiramekarei and kill the target without any problems. So overall, Kisame thought the mission went pretty well. 

They were setting up camp just outside of the target’s village when Kisame noticed a familiar chakra signature. It took him a minute to place it especially as it was just a quick spike of their chakra, like they were saying hello. But then he did recognize it. Kisame grinned to himself as he unstrapped Samehada from his back. He didn’t say anything to Mangetsu or Chōjūrō, but he figured Mangetsu would be smart enough to notice and follow his lead. 

A dense mist appeared, which meant Mangetsu had noticed. It wasn’t how Kisame normally liked to fight, but he guessed they were supposed to be training Chōjūrō right now. The kid had already given Hiramekarei back to Mangetsu, so Kisame hoped he was sticking close to the other man. Chōjūrō had skill, but not enough if he was right about who they were about to fight. Kisame hid himself in the mist and waited.

The other ninja were cautious, so he waited for a long while. But then he heard a slight noise like someone had stepped on a leaf. Kisame grinned to himself as he silently moved behind the other ninja. His grin grew as he recognized the long ponytail. Samehada wasn’t really designed for slitting throats, but he brought his sword up to the other man’s throat anyway. “Hey Itachi.” 

"Hello Kisame." His voice was light and friendly and his stance was relaxed. It was a cocky move and it made Kisame laugh. "You had been taking too long to come over and say hello." Which meant he stepped on the leaf on purpose. 

"What if one of my teammates had come over instead and killed you?"

"They wouldn't have been able to." Itachi didn't sound like he was bragging, just that he was stating a fact. It was cocky as hell, and Kisame loved it.

"Maybe not. You here just to say hello or were you looking for a fight?" Itachi sighed, and his whole body moved with it. Kisame noticed that he had gotten taller since he last saw him months ago.

"Fight I'm afraid. I heard a rumor that the Mist was hired to kill someone we had just been hired to defend." Kisame laughed again.

"Oh then you're way too late. That guy's already dead." Itachi gently pushed Samehada away from his neck and turned around to face Kisame. He was surprised that Samehada hadn't tried to attack Itachi at the touch, but maybe it liked the other man's chakra. 

"Hirasho Akidon?" Kisame noticed Itachi's sharingan and wondered if his eyes always looked like that.

"Yup. Killed him hours ago." Itachi sighed again. "Guess there's no reason to fight now."

"No I guess there isn't." Most of Kisame still wanted to fight Itachi anyway. Their last fight had been fun, and he thought about it often. But Mei would probably kill him if he put Chōjūrō in any unnecessary danger. He strapped Samehada onto his back and cleared the mist.

Mangetsu and Chōjūrō were standing behind a masked anbu with long purple hair. Chōjūrō was moments away from stabbing her in the back with his katana. Just behind them was another masked anbu with two long, wooden spikes coming out from the middle of his hands. The spikes were also moments away from stabbing Chōjūrō and Mangetsu. Everyone looked around in confusion before jumping out of the way of danger. Kisame laughed loudly. Mangetsu glared over at him. “What the hell Kisame?!” 

“Hey I just saved your life and there’s no way I can go back without Chōjūrō. Mei’s taken a liking to him.”

“The Mizukage likes me?” The kid sounded excited, and Kisame rolled his eyes.

“Not like that, kid. Anyway there isn’t any reason for us to fight anymore.” The anbu both looked over to Itachi for confirmation. 

“He is correct. Hirasho Akidon’s already dead.” They swore in unison. “We should go back to report to the Hokage.”

“Hey, how do you know this guy anyway?” Now Mangetsu was glaring suspiciously at Itachi who was still standing close to Kisame with his relaxed posture.

“This is Itachi.” The anbus’ stances got tense again like they were ready to keep fighting, but Mangetsu just laughed loudly. 

“Give it up Kisame. No one believes that you fought Itachi of the Sharingan.” Kisame frowned.

“Suigetsu and Nori believe me.” Mangetsu laughed again.

“That’s because they’re kids. Now who are you really?” He shifted his attention back to Itachi. 

“Itachi of the Sharingan.” And then he was suddenly standing in front of Mangetsu. Chōjūrō jumped and made a weird squeaking sound. Kisame was going to need to talk to him about that later as the Swordsmen of the Mist didn’t get spooked and didn’t squeak. He laughed as he looked over at Mangetsu. The other man’s face was blank in the specific way that meant he was caught in a genjutsu. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh.” Mangetsu looked a little pale and shaken, but he was still conscious so the genjutsu couldn’t have been that bad. Itachi turned back to Kisame and gave him a small wave.

“Goodbye Kisame.” 

“Bye Itachi.” Itachi left and the other two anbu followed after a moment’s hesitation. Kisame looked over at Mangetsu with a large grin on his face.

“So do you believe me now?” 

“Yeah. I can’t believe you’re not dead.” Kisame rolled his eyes as he walked over to them.

“I’m a good ninja too. One of the best in our village.” Mangetsu shook his head.

“Yeah, but that was on a whole other level. I guess I’m glad you’re friends with him or something.” He shook his head again and then went back to setting up camp as if they hadn’t been interrupted. 

* * *

Everyone believed him this time when he mentioned meeting Itachi on their mission. Apparently Chōjūrō was more believable than him or something, which only annoyed him a bit. He was still disappointed that he didn’t really get to fight Itachi this time. Kisame hoped he’d get to see the other ninja again soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sword time! Hiramekarei is in this chapter! In the show it's the sword Chōjūrō uses. In this fic he's training with it while Mangetsu uses it most of the time. It's also called the Twin Blades! (https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Hiramekarei) 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Kisame hated going to the Land of Wind. It was hot and dry and there was sand everywhere. He complained so much whenever he had to go that Mei usually never sent him. But everyone else was already out on other missions, so she had to send him. It was supposed to be a quick mission, but he already felt like it was taking too long. He was supposed to be destroying a supply outpost or something somewhere. He felt like he was almost in the right area, but it was hard to tell as everywhere looked the same in the desert. 

He felt a quick flicker of chakra nearby and assumed that meant he was almost there. He grinned to himself as he also assumed that meant there was going to be a fight. His grin got wider as he got closer and recognized the chakra. He unstrapped Samehada as he got even closer.

There wasn’t anywhere to hide in the desert, so Itachi saw Kisame clearly as he approached. He pulled out his own sword and met Kisame halfway. It was clear that neither one was using their full force as the swords clashed. “Hello Kisame.” He grinned as he took another swing that Itachi also blocked.

“Hey Itachi.” Itachi leapt back and threw some shuriken as he did. Kisame swept them aside with Samehada, but then didn’t notice the small fireball that clipped the side of his leg. It hurt like hell, but also got his blood thrumming in excitement. 

“Just stopping by to say hello?” Itachi’s voice was light and teasing until he dissolved into a murder of crows when Kisame threw a kunai at him. 

“Nope. Here on vacation?” Kisame ducked as Itachi threw another fireball.

“No.” Kisame laughed as they clashed swords again.

They fought for a while and, like before, they were pretty evenly matched. Kisame did manage to surprise Itachi with a small shark bomb though, which he was proud of. But then all of a sudden it was like the ground was trying to swallow him whole. He hadn't seen Itachi do any hand signs, so he wasn't sure what was going on. Kisame tried to get back on more solid ground, but he lost his balance and fell hard onto his back. Itachi stood over him with his head tilted like a bird. He couldn't know for certain with the mask, but Kisame was pretty sure that Itachi was smiling. He was also now pretty sure that he knew what had happened. 

"Genjutsu?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist doing a small one." Kisame stood back up.

"It's alright. Obviously you wanted to show off a bit." Itachi made a quiet kind of noise that could've been a laugh. "I'm not still in the genjutsu, right?" Itachi shook his head, and Kisame watched his ponytail sway with the motion. "Good." He went to hold Samehada in front of him again, but paused as he felt more people appear nearby. Itachi turned to face the direction of the new chakra signatures. 

"Those are my teammates." Kisame weighed his options. On the one hand he still had plenty of chakra left and he  _ should _ be trying to complete his mission. On the other hand, he really hated the Land of Wind. He strapped Samehada onto his back.

"Then I guess this one will go to the Leaf." He turned to face the direction that he was pretty sure was the way he needed to head to go back home. "See you around, Itachi."

"Wait." He looked back over at Itachi, who had a hand stretched out almost as if he were about to grab Kisame's sleeve. "Won't you get in trouble if you just leave?" He grinned widely at Itachi. 

"Worried about me?" Itachi dropped his hand, and Kisame was worried he made it weird. So he kept talking in hopes to quickly push past the weirdness. "I'll probably get scolded, but I'll be fine. The Mist isn't like it used to be, so I won't get punished or something for failing a mission." Itachi tilted his head, but Kisame had no idea what kind of face he was making under the mask.

"Are you sure?" It almost sounded like Itachi was actually worried. It made Kisame get a weird feeling in his chest.

"Yeah, but just be ready cause it won't be this easy next time." Itachi laughed. 

"Of course. Goodbye Kisame." He smiled at Itachi again.

"Bye Itachi." He left just before Itachi's teammates reached them. 

* * *

Kisame did get scolded by Ao when he got back. But Mei seemed to think he had failed it on purpose because he hated getting sent to the Land of Wind that much. So she did scold him too, but also promised not to send him on another mission there unless it was completely unavoidable. Ao told her that the Mizukage shouldn't show favoritism like that, but then Mei threatened to kill him and the matter was dropped. Even though he had technically failed his mission, Kisame felt like he had won all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance that all of the chapters are wildly different lengths!! I have it mostly all written and broke them up by content/scenes, so the length gets weird! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

It was only a few months before Kisame got to see Itachi again. He was both excited and annoyed to see the other ninja. Excited because he had been wanting to fight the other man again, but annoyed at the type of mission he had interrupted. They were on an escort mission, which meant he couldn’t go all-out and that he had to focus on defending their client. They had also brought all the Swordsmen-in-training with them as Mei thought that this would be a good mission for them. She had either overestimated the kids’ abilities or underestimated how likely they were to be attacked. She also had absolutely no idea how annoying all the kids were together. 

Kisame had been trying to keep Suigetsu and Nori from scaring Chōjūrō for the hundredth time when he felt a familiar spike of chakra. It was too quick for the kids to notice, but he saw Mangetsu tense out of the corner of his eye. “Go get Chōjūrō and circle around the client now.” 

“What--” Nori must’ve understood that something had changed, because she pulled Suigetsu away before he could ask his question. Kisame unstrapped Samehada and saw everyone else do the same with their own swords before a thick mist covered the area. He heard their client start to ask something, but one of the kids, probably Chōjūrō, must’ve reassured him. Kisame wanted to seek Itachi out, but stayed close to the client. He knew Zabuza and Ameyuri were probably already searching for the attackers and he also assumed that Itachi had already slipped past them. 

He was right. He saw a familiar ponytail and reached Itachi just in time to shove his arm out of place before he threw some shuriken. Then he kicked at the back of the other man’s leg hoping to throw him off balance. Itachi dodged it easily and then turned around to face him. “Hello Kisame. I see you have more genin with you this time.” 

“Hey Itachi. The Mizukage thought this would be good training for them.” He tried swinging Samehada at the other ninja, but he erupted into a cloud of crows when the sword would’ve hit. The crows all cawed loudly and distracted Kisame long enough for Itachi to throw a kunai at him. The kunai went deep into the back of his shoulder. It hurt and he had to switch Samehada to his other hand. But the kunai hadn’t hit him in a place that would cause any lasting damage. Kisame had to admire Itachi’s aim and consideration. He also had to admire his plan even though he meant Itachi had gotten one over him. Itachi threw a series of small fireballs over to where the client was as Kisame pulled the kunai out and switched Samehada to his other hand. He hoped that one of the kids had done something to deflect them. 

His next swing with Samehada actually caught Itachi in the legs. It forced him off of his feet and into an odd sort of handstand for a moment. He was clearly trying to get back onto his feet quickly, but it gave Kisame enough time to kick him in the chest. Kisame kicked him much more gently than he would’ve kicked any other opponent, but it was still enough to send Itachi back a few feet. He was a bit unsteady when he got back to his feet, but he didn’t pause at all to get his breath back. Itachi ran at him and threw some shuriken at him as he did. Kisame dodged them easily or at least thought he did. He laughed in surprise when he felt one slice across his cheek. It stung, but it also excited him.

And then he heard Ameyuri’s shrieking laughter as she appeared in front of him in a whirl of lightning. The mist was still surrounding them, but he could see her sharp smile clearly. “Let me have this one. I have a feeling he’s cute under that mask.” Kisame felt annoyed with her for asking, but it’s not like he had any right to be. They were on a mission and were supposed to be doing everything they could to protect their client. And here he was holding back against one of the strongest ninjas currently in the five nations. He should let Ameyuri handle Itachi, but he didn’t  _ want _ to.

“Actually, I prefer fighting with Kisame. That is, if you don’t mind.” Ameyuri let out another shriek of laughter as she looked between them. She had an odd, mischievous look on her face that Kisame didn’t understand. He also didn’t understand why she winked at him.

“I see. I would’ve eaten your heart out if I was your preference.” She laughed again and then ran at Kisame. This was a move they had used often, so he crouched down a bit and then held out a hand for her to leap onto. She jumped onto it and then he tossed her. “Have fun with this one, big guy.” She then called out some lightning to move herself even further. Her shape disappeared into the mist and all he could see were flashes of lightning. She looked like an oncoming storm, and he felt bad for whoever she ended up tangling with. Kisame thought about her parting words and felt like he had missed something important from the exchange between her and Itachi. 

“Ready?” Kisame felt like Itachi also had an odd, mischievous look similar to Ameyuri’s, but he couldn’t be sure with the mask. He just grinned back.

“Ready.” Itachi ran at him similar to the way Ameyuri just had. So Kisame reacted similarly. He crouched down at the last second, rolled under Itachi as he jumped, and grabbed one of his feet. Then he pulled the other ninja down onto the ground hard. A surprised kind of laugh escaped Itachi, and Kisame’s grin grew. 

They fought for a while, with Itachi throwing something in the direction of the client every so often. They didn’t try to do any lasting damage to each other nor did they look for other opponents. From what Kisame could tell Itachi was having just as much fun as him with their fight. And then the mist cleared. 

Kisame immediately looked over towards the client. Suigetsu, Nori, and Chōjūrō were still circled around him with their swords out, and he looked scared but unharmed. Kisame then looked over to his teammates and saw that they were all still standing too with some minor injuries of their own. A few masked anbu were laying on the ground, but none of them looked dead. “Why the hell is yours still standing Kisame?” Zabuza was pointing his sword at Itachi, who pulled out a few kunai in response.

“Oh don’t worry about it.” Ameyuri smacked Zabuza hard on the back. “Let the guy flirt a bit.” The back of Kisame’s neck felt hot.

“What?!” His voice was much higher than he expected and it only made him feel more embarrassed. 

“We’re on a  _ mission _ . No one’s flirting right now.” Kisame  _ hadn’t _ been flirting and felt even more embarrassed now. He didn’t look over at Itachi at all.

“Are my teammates still alive?” Itachi’s tone was polite enough, but he could hear the threat in it.

“No one’s talk--” Mangetsu pulled Zabuza back as he had started walking towards Kisame and Itachi.

“They are. But you should tend to them quickly if you want to keep them alive.” Itachi sighed almost inaudibly and put his kunai away.

“Then I guess this puts you at two wins, Kisame. Good luck with the rest of your mission.” He wondered what kind of face Itachi was making under the mask and was more than a little disappointed that he’d never know.

“Bye Itachi.” Suigetsu and Nori looked at Itachi in excitement as he walked over to one of his teammates. Kisame rolled his eyes and walked over to them and the client. 

“Is that really--” He started to gently push Suigetsu and Nori forward as Chōjūrō led their client over to the rest of their group.

“Yes. Don’t look so starstruck.” Both of them tried to peer around him.

“But that’s  _ the _ Itachi of the Sharingan! He’s legendary!” He rolled his eyes again.

“We’re all legendary.” They both looked at him like they didn’t believe him. “We are!”

“I’m surprised you’re not dead.” Suigetsu’s tone was that particular type of bratty he found extra annoying. Kisame was going to have him training until he dropped once they were back home.

“Kisame is an excellent ninja.” Itachi sounded like he was stating a fact. “He is very skilled and very honorable, and you’re lucky to have him as a teacher.” Kisame felt the back of his neck go hot again and it only felt hotter when Ameyuri whistled. Itachi turned his attention back to his teammate, and the kids now let themselves get pushed forward.

Itachi didn’t say anything or do anything to try and stop them as they left.

* * *

Everyone waited until they had finished escorting the client to his fortress-like home before talking about the fight. Suigetsu and Nori had asked a hundred questions all at once, so Mangetsu covered their mouths with his hands. Then he talked about his own fight with the anbu who could somehow use wood release. Then Zabuza and Ameyuri talked about their own fights. And then everyone was looking at Kisame all at once with too much interest. “So that was really Itachi of the Sharingan? Doesn’t look anything like I expected.” Kisame shrugged.

“Appearances can be deceiving. He’s just as strong as all the rumors say.” 

“And yet you’re not dead.” Mangetsu had uncovered his brother’s mouth just to let him say that. Kisame felt annoyed and decided he’d have Suigetsu training until he put himself in the hospital when they got back.

“It’s because he has a crush on Kisame.” Kisame’s neck and face felt hot all at once.

“Stop saying weird shit, Ameyuri. And I’m not dead because I’m a good ninja you brat.” Ameyuri had that odd, mischievous look on her face again. 

“Oh right. You’re...what was it again? Oh I remember.” She stood up a little straighter. “Very skilled and very honorable.” She made her voice sound deeper and more serious than usual. It was obviously supposed to be an impression of Itachi. Kisame hit her on her arm. 

“Stop trying to make this weird.” 

“Oh no she’s right. It’s totally weird.” He could see Zabuza’s sharp grin through the bandages on his face. “He should’ve killed you or you should’ve killed him. So why haven’t you Kisame?” He shrugged.

“I haven’t needed to.” Zabuza looked like he didn’t believe him, which was fair as that wasn’t the whole reason. “And I guess I don’t want to. He’s fun to fight against.” Ameyuri let out a shriek of laughter.

“I knew it! You  _ were _ flirting with him.” His face felt even hotter.

“I wasn’t! We don’t all use fights as excuses to flirt, Ameyuri.” She didn’t look the least bit deterred.

“ _ You _ might not have been flirting then, but  _ he _ definitely was. I can tell these things.” He rolled his eyes and decided to stop trying to argue with her. Once she made her mind up about something there wasn’t anything anyone could do to change it. 

“What’s flirting?” Nori looked at all of them hopefully, and Kisame sighed.

“Ask Haku later kid.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Nori is my OC from a Naruto game I'm playing! There just aren't that many Mist ninjas who aren't older or missing nin? I also just love her ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Also, I have Kisame throw Ameyuri 100% because I used to read Xmen comics a lot and liked that Colossus just threw Wolverine as an attack.
> 
> Thank you for reading!! <3


	5. Chapter 5

Kisame didn’t want to think about what Ameyrui had said, but couldn’t stop himself. She also kept bringing it back up, which made it hard to forget about. She kept insisting that Itachi had been trying to flirt with him, so he kept telling her that she was reading too far into it. They just both respected each other’s skills as ninjas. She always looked at him like he was an idiot when he said that.

It was just that there was absolutely no way that Ameyuri could be right. No one had ever flirted with him except for Mei, but that was back when they had been kids and because she felt bad for him. He was blue, had rough shark-like skin, and had gills on his face that didn’t even work. It’s not like he was surprised that no one ever flirted with him, but he was surprised that Ameyuri was so insistent that  _ Itachi _ had been trying to flirt with him. Kisame just assumed she thought it would be exciting if it was true. So he just tried to do his best to ignore her and not think about it. But he also did listen for any news about the other ninja and didn’t look too closely as to why he was relieved every time he heard something.

* * *

Mei had him taking Nori out to practice with Kiba while Ameyuri was in the hospital. She was just getting whatever kind of treatment she needed to keep her odd sickness under control. It was pretty routine, but the kid still worried each time. So he didn’t mind taking her out on a quick mission to get her mind off of it. It was also a lot easier to deal with the kids individually on missions rather than having them out altogether.

Their mission was to clear out some bandits from some forest near some small nearby village. It was a pretty basic mission, and Kisame was sure they’d be finished in no time. Nori could probably be considered a genius if she didn’t rush headfirst into fights so much. But she had a lot of practice and skill with Kiba, and he would be there too. The mission would probably only take a few hours.

The bandits found Kisame and Nori before they could find them. Kisame didn’t mind as the outcome would be the same. He grinned as he unstrapped Samehada and then let Nori take the lead. He saw her smile in the same sort of way and then launch herself at the closest bandit. 

They fought together well and cut down the bandits without any issue. Some of them were skilled, but not enough to be any real threat to Kisame. But it seemed like they were endless. There were definitely a lot more than just ‘some’ bandits, but he couldn’t tell how many more were left. He could see Nori start to get tired. And then it was like the bandits had decided to get serious all at once.

They all focused their attacks on Nori who started having trouble defending against them. Kisame swore to himself and rushed over to her. “Get the mist up.” They started throwing shuriken at her hands as she tried to make the signs. He swore again and then did his best to give her cover. He felt some number of kunai hit him, but she was able to get the mist up. “Now get out of here, and I’ll handle the rest of them.” He could use a thousand feeding sharks or something to get rid of the rest all at once. 

“But your skin looks weird.” He rolled his eyes at her.

“My skin always looks weird.” She shook her head and genuinely looked worried.

“You look sick, Kisame.” He looked down at his own arm just to humor her and was surprised to find that she was right. His skin looked pale like he had a fever or something. He felt a little off, but had assumed that was from getting hit with multiple kunai. Now Kisame was assuming that at least some of those kunai had been coated with poison.

“I’ll be fine, kid. Get out of here.” She shook her head again.

“We’ll leave together.” She had that same determined look on her face that Ameyuri always got. 

“Alright fine. Let’s go.” Kisame’s knees buckled and he fell as soon as he tried to move. “Fuck.” Either all of the kunai had been poisoned or it was a fast-acting type. He would need to merge with Samehada to heal quickly. “Nori you need to leave now. I’ll be fine. Samehada will take care of me, okay?” She looked worried and like she didn’t believe him. But he wouldn’t be able to merge long enough to heal if he was worried about her waiting there.

“But Kisame--”

“I’ll be  _ fine _ .” And then he felt a familiar chakra signature nearby. He hoped Itachi wasn’t there to fight as it wouldn’t be much of one. Only moments after he noticed the chakra, Itachi was in the mist with them. 

“Hello--” He stopped himself and then crouched down next to Kisame. “Are you injured, Kisame?” Kisame felt embarrassed at the concern in Itachi’s voice and at the situation.

“No, I’m--”

“I think he’s been poisoned.” Nori still sounded worried.

“I  _ might _ have been poisoned, but I’ll be fine. I just--” Kisame stopped talking as he just noticed Itachi had taken his mask off. His face looked both young and old at the same time. He had two deep stress lines running down either side of his face and his lips were flush. Kisame thought he was beautiful and then immediately felt embarrassed for thinking it.

“Kisame?” He only felt more embarrassed with how concerned Itachi sounded.

“Sorry. I just need to take some of Samehada’s chakra and then I can heal.” Itachi nodded once, but still looked concerned. It made Kisame’s chest feel strange, but that also could’ve been because of the poison. 

“I can handle the enemies nearby while you heal.” He turned to look at Nori. “Stay here with him, please.” She nodded and then held her swords steady in front of her. Itachi looked at him for a long moment before pulling his mask back on and then disappearing into the mist. Kisame unwrapped Samehada and then started to merge with it. 

Samehada made a concerned sort of chirping noise as they merged. Kisame groaned as it felt like he had been shocked with a lighting jutsu, but that’s always how doing this felt. He also felt like an overflow of chakra was pouring into him. Samehada’s chirping became more soothing as the poison started to work itself out of his system. He had no idea what was going on around him as Samehada healed him, so he had to hope that Itachi was handling it. 

He noticed the mist was gone when he pulled away from Samehada. He also noticed that both Nori and Itachi were standing over him. Itachi’s mask was off again, and they both looked worried. “I’m fine. Samehada took care of it.” They didn’t look any less worried. He stood up and gestured to himself. “See? All healed up.” Nori’s worried look turned to one of relief. Itachi’s turned into something he wasn’t quite sure how to read. “The bandits?”

“All taken care of.” Itachi’s tone was his usual polite one. “Does this mean your mission’s complete?” 

“Yeah. I should probably take her back now.” Itachi’s face became even less readable.

“Do you mind if I accompany you back?” Kisame had that weird feeling in his chest again and this time he couldn’t blame it on the poison.

“As long as it doesn’t mess up your own mission?” Itachi shook his head, and Kisame was distracted by the sway of his ponytail.

“I was actually on my way back from a mission when I noticed your chakra. I asked my teammates to submit the mission report to the Hokage.” That weird feeling in his chest felt even weirder, and he tried not to focus on it as he smiled at Itachi.

“Then let’s go. Nori, lead the way.” She smiled widely at both of them and then took off running. Kisame waited a moment before following. Itachi still had that unreadable look on his face, and he had a feeling that the other ninja had something he didn’t want to say in front of the kid.

They ran in silence for a while, and Itachi’s face never lost the unreadable look. It made Kisame nervous, so he ended up speaking first. “You look like you have something you want to say.” 

“Oh!” Itachi sounded surprised. “Sorry I was lost in thought.” He didn’t look like he was going to say anything else, so Kisame nudged him a bit.

“Lost in thought about what?” Itachi looked over at him and he looked nervous.

“Why did you bring someone so young with you to a mission like that?” He didn’t sound like he was accusing Kisame or anything. He sounded curious and also a bit angry. Even though they didn’t really know each other that well, Kisame could tell that the anger wasn’t directed towards him. 

“Because that’s what I’m expected to do. Train the younger generation of Swordsmen almost the same way I was trained. Mei’s changed a lot and it’s a lot safer for these kids than it ever was for us, but they’re ninjas. We’re supposed to put them in danger and pretend like it’s okay. And maybe people who lived through the Bloody Mist shouldn’t be in charge of kids, but we’re the only ones left.” Itachi made some kind of noise. “I’m sure you were sent out on dangerous missions when you were her age.” 

“I was. It’s just…..my brother recently became a genin. I had always done everything I could to protect him and yet none of it mattered. He almost died on his first mission out of the village and he awakened his sharingan.” Itachi still sounded angry, but now he also sounded incredibly sad. It twisted Kisame’s heart painfully. 

“How do you awaken a sharingan?” Itachi looked at him, and he saw the black, comma-like markings swirl around in his eyes.

“Through grief. With a great loss an Uchiha can gain their sharingan or develop it further.” The marks in Itachi’s eyes kept swirling until they became connected in an odd sort of triangle shape. 

“Then I’m sorry for all the loss you’ve experienced to get those eyes.” Itachi looked surprised and his eyes went back to their normal red and black pattern. 

“You’re the first person to say anything like that to me. Most people congratulate someone on awakening it.” Kisame put a hand on Itachi’s arm briefly and hoped the touch was comforting.

“You didn’t make it sound like anything worth congratulating.” Itachi blinked at him slowly before giving him a small smile. It made Kisame’s breath catch for a moment, and he hoped the other man didn’t notice.

“Thank you. I guess I’m just worried for my brother and wondering if the current way we do things is the right way.”

“It’s probably not.” Itachi looked surprised again. "But that's why we have to keep working to fix it."

"You're right. Thank you Kisame." He smiled at him again, and Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot.

"Ah I didn't really do anything. Thank  _ you _ for helping us out back there." Itachi blushed.

"Of course. I’m glad you’re both okay.” Kisame smiled at him and noticed Itachi’s blush get darker. 

They easily caught back up with Nori. She asked Itachi way too many questions on the way to the village, but he answered almost all of them. He was incredibly patient with her, and Kisame assumed his brother must be around the same age. Or that was just an incredibly patient man. Both seemed pretty likely. 

They stopped running when they were almost back to the village. “Can’t Itachi come back with us?” Nori looked up at him hopefully.

“I’m afraid I can’t stay.” He crouched down so he could look her in the eye. “But I’m sure I’ll see you again. Goodbye Nori.” He gently pushed in the direction of the village. She looked up at him again, but he just shook his head.

“Go check up on Ameyuri.” She huffed loudly in response to Kisame. 

“Fine. Bye Itachi.” She ran off towards the village and left Kisame alone with Itachi. He looked down at the other man and remembered all of Ameyuri’s talk about flirting. He felt the back of his neck grow hot.

“Thanks again for today Itachi.” He saw Itachi blush and was struck again by how beautiful the other man’s face was.

“Of course. Thank you for listening to me today.”

“Of course.” They looked at each other for a long moment. It felt like Itachi was waiting for something, but Kisame had no idea what. “I should probably go give my report to Mei. I’ll see you around, Itachi.”

“Goodbye Kisame.” Itachi leaned up and quickly kissed him on the cheek before disappearing. Kisame stood there in surprise for a long time afterwards. He couldn’t believe that Ameyuri had actually been right. 

* * *

Somehow the story had spread that Kisame was mostly dead until Itachi had saved him and then nursed him back to health. It was embarrassing and not true at all, but everyone was choosing to believe an eleven year old over him. He put Nori through gruelling training in retaliation, but the damage had already been done.

All of his friends also now seemed to believe Ameyuri's theory about Itachi having a crush on him, even though none of them knew about the kiss on the cheek. Mei and Ameyuri were insistent that they knew the other man’s feelings. Zabuza thought it was definitely true and very funny. And even the usually reasonable Mangetsu also believed it. No one even asked what he thought or how he felt. They all just kept trying to give him advice on how to impress Itachi.

No one had asked what he thought, but now a small part of Kisame did think there might be a slight chance that Itachi might have some kind of interest in him. Kisame tried not to think about it though because it’s not like anything was going to happen. They were from two different villages, they had their own lives, and, again, Kisame knew exactly how monstrous he looked. If Itachi actually did have any real interest in him it was probably only because of his skill as a ninja. But when he did find himself thinking about it, he also thought about his own feelings. Kisame might have a small crush of his own on the other man. Itachi was an amazing ninja who was fun to fight against. He also fought fairly, which Kisame appreciated. And Kisame also couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful he looked under his mask. He was embarrassed at how much he thought about it. But it also helped remind him that there was no way anything was going to happen between them.

So he did his best to redirect everyone’s conversations once they tried to talk about Itachi. It worked well enough with Zabuza and Mangetsu, but Ameyuri and Mei were not as easily distracted. Kisame knew they were just trying to be helpful, but they had a lot more important things they needed to focus on. They were in charge of reforming a village, they didn’t have any time to focus on his nonexistent romantic life. Ao was at least an unknowing, but helpful accomplice at trying to keep their attention on the important things. 

Kisame did tell the truth of everything to one person though. He didn’t  _ want  _ to think about it, but couldn’t stop himself and it only got harder the more everyone tried to talk about it with him. He thought telling someone telling someone the actual, full truth of it might help get it out of his system. So he confided in the only person he knew who could keep a secret and who could give actual, good advice. 

Haku was only fifteen, but he was honestly the most mature person Kisame knew. It was probably due to surviving the kekkei genkai purges and whatever else Zabuza had them doing before they rejoined the village a few years ago. But Kisame appreciated his seriousness and his ability to keep the other kids in line. He also appreciated the way he listened to him attentively without interrupting even once. 

When he was finished speaking, Haku looked up at him with his big, doe-like eyes. “Kisame, I think he likes you.” He felt the back of his neck get hot. “If not, I think he would’ve killed you by now.” Kisame sighed loudly.

“Have you been talking to Suigetsu?” Haku looked sheepish.

“No.” Kisame looked at him expectantly. “Well maybe a little. But that’s not why I said it. Sometime before Zabuza and I came back we saw Itachi on a mission with the Copy Ninja Kakashi. They killed thirty Stone ninja in minutes without getting injured at all. Zabuza had wanted to test himself against them, but I begged him not to. I knew they would’ve killed him in minutes too.” Kisame felt a little better knowing that Haku also thought Zabuza would’ve died in a one-on-one fight.

“I see. So you think that means he likes me?” Haku nodded.

“And because he kissed you.” Kisame blushed without wanting to.

“On the cheek.” Haku nodded again.

“Right, on the cheek.” He still sounded as serious as he normally did, but Kisame had a good feeling that the kid was teasing him. “I also think you should tell him how  _ you _ feel next time you see him.” Kisame tried to imagine doing that and couldn’t.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, kid. The next time I see him will probably be on another mission where we’ll need to fight each other again.”

“Maybe. But I still think you should. The life of a ninja is a dangerous one and you never know when it’s going to end.” Haku was looking at something far off in the distance that Kisame knew he wouldn’t be able to see. His face was solemn and sad. Kisame’s heart twisted painfully at imagining all the things that could’ve happened to make Haku like this already. “Besides, you’ll become stronger with having someone you want to protect.” He smiled widely, but even that looked sad. Kisame knew exactly who Haku wanted to protect and exactly why it made him sad. He threw an arm around the kid’s shoulders and hoped it was comforting. 

“I do have people I want to protect. The village, Mei, you and the rest of the kids, and hell even Zabuza.” Haku laughed.

“And you do protect us. But we both know it isn’t the same kind of thing.” Kisame didn’t say anything because Haku was right and they both knew it. “So you should give it a chance. If it doesn’t work out at least you won’t have to see him around the village.” Kisame laughed loudly. 

“Thanks Haku. Maybe I will if we’re not trying to kill each other the next time I see him.” Haku smiled at him widely and this one didn’t look sad at all.

“I’ll be waiting to hear all about it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sword time! Kiba is the name of the swords as well as Kiba Inuzuka, which is confusing! These are the swords Ameyuri and Raiga use in Naruto and I have my OC Nori train with here! They are also called Fang or Boltsword! (https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Kiba_(swords))
> 
> As mentioned before, Zabuza & Haku are alive! They left the village at some point, but the Mei asked them to come back and they did. The Land of Waves arc happens mostly as it does in canon, but Gato double-crosses them a little earlier so they leave that fight still alive. :) This will definitely come up again in this fic.
> 
> Thank you!!


	6. Chapter 6

Months went by and Kisame hadn’t seen Itachi again. He heard rumors about the Leaf ninja, so he knew he was still alive. But he was still disappointed. Right after his talk with Haku, Kisame had actually wanted to take the kid’s advice. But as time went on, he talked himself out of it. He also convinced himself that a kiss on the cheek didn’t really mean anything at all. 

Right now, Kisame was on his first solo mission in a long time. He needed to steal some kind of intel from some group in some small country. Ao had told him all the details, but he hadn’t really been paying attention. He knew what he needed to grab and where it’d be, which was really all he needed to know. He didn’t really understand why Ao placed so much emphasis on the context of each mission. As long as they got paid he didn’t really care.

Kisame found the place easily. It wasn’t hidden very well. And it looked like it was guarded by some non-ninjas as well as a few genin. Samehada chirped excitedly as they got closer, which put him a bit more on edge. Usually the sword only got that excited for people with a lot of chakra like him or like jinchūrikis. He crept closer cautiously. 

Sneaking up on the three genin was easy as they were arguing amongst themselves. They were arguing very loudly too, which was pretty terrible for a group of ninjas. Kisame wondered where their teacher was as he moved closer. He then noticed their headbands marking them as Leaf ninja and wondered if Itachi knew them.

One of the genin was a girl with long, pink hair who seemed to focus her yelling at a boy with bright blonde hair. Everything about that kid was loud from his bright hair to his bright orange jumpsuit to his loud voice. Even his chakra was loud, and Kisame assumed he was the Leaf’s current jinchūriki. The last kid was quiet and scowling and looked kind of familiar. He had dark hair, but a lot of people had dark hair. He also had dark eyes, but a lot of people also had dark eyes. It was the shape of his face that was pulling at Kisame’s memory and after a few moments he realized this kid looked like Itachi. He knew the Uchiha clan was huge, so this could’ve been a cousin or something, but Kisame had a pretty good feeling that this kid was Itachi’s brother. He sighed almost inaudibly. 

His mission was just to steal something. Usually Kisame wouldn’t have minded attracting a lot of attention and getting into a fight, but he didn’t want Itachi’s little brother trying to fight him. Especially after Itachi mentioned how worried he was about sending his brother on missions. He would need to actually be stealthy on this one, which was going to be harder than usual with Samehada chirping excitedly on his back. Kisame reached back and tried to soothe his sword as best he could for now and then tried to think.

His thinking was immediately interrupted as a kunai came flying at him. He dodged it easily and guessed that he found their teacher. Kisame jumped from his hiding place and out into the open. All three kids startled when they saw him. Another ninja followed him out into the open, and he recognized the Copy Ninja Kakashi easily. Any other time he would’ve been excited to fight the other ninja, but he didn’t want to put Itachi’s brother at risk. He sighed to himself before holding his empty hands out in front of him. “I’m not here to fight.” 

“Right.” Kakashi sounded bored. He had his headband covering one eye, and Kisame wondered if that was to keep people from recognizing him. “But you’re probably here to steal something. Right?” The kids were all looking at them in interest, probably because they expected a fight to start at any moment. 

“Yeah I was, but that’s kind of busted now.” 

“Really?” Kakashi sounded both bored and like he didn’t believe him. “And you’re not going to fight us for it?”

“Nope.” Samehada chirped unhappily. 

"I had heard that the Monster of the Mist never turns down a fight." Kisame balled his hands into tight fists and felt something ugly and heavy in his chest. He had never liked hearing that name, but he liked it even less now that Bloody Mist was gone.

"Well you heard wrong. I honestly don't want to fight you and a bunch of kids." 

"HEY!!" The kid in the orange jumpsuit ran towards them. "We're not kids! We're ninjas!" He adjusted his headband to make sure Kisame could see it. He kind of reminded him of Suigetsu. 

"You are kids, kid. And I don't fight kids." The kid looked ready to yell again, but then Kakashi shifted in front of him.

"I'm not a kid though." Kisame sighed. 

"Listen, I really don't want a fight right now. I'll leave and that'll be it." 

"But the thing is I really don't believe you." Kakashi didn't sound bored anymore. "Why wouldn't you want to fight us? It'd be an easy win and then you could finish your mission." Kisame sighed again. 

"Itachi would kill me if I hurt his brother, alright?" He saw both Kakashi and Itachi's brother grow tense.

"How do you know Itachi?" Kisame shrugged.

"We've run into each other a few times on missions. We're….friends I guess?" The back of his neck was hot and he hoped no one could tell. Kakashi was looking at him suspiciously. 

"So you won't fight us because of my brother?" The kid sounded angry and bratty in the exact same way Suigetsu always did whenever Mangetsu was mentioned. Kisame should've known the kid would have a brother complex. 

"Yeah. So bye I guess." Kisame got ready to run. The kid rushed over and the girl followed as she tried to tug on his arm.

"No way! Fight me." His tone was the same angry and bratty one. Kisame looked down at the kid. 

"I'm  _ definitely _ not gonna fight you, kid." The kid glared up at him. He noticed his sharingan and noticed that it didn't have as many comma-like markings as Itachi's. 

"Because you're afraid you'd lose?" Kisame laughed before he could stop himself.

"Definitely not." He looked over at Kakashi. "I'm gonna leave now, so keep your kids in check."

"Wait--" Kisame didn't wait. He quickly made the signs for the Hidden Mist and then ran.

He stopped running when he thought he was far enough away. No one had followed him. He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Ao was probably going to scold him for hours when he got back without the intel. And no one was going to let him live this down when they found out why he failed the mission. 

* * *

Absolutely everyone made fun of Kisame for weeks about it. Ao also didn't trust him on solo missions anymore, so he was stuck training the kids most of the time. Kisame didn't regret it though. Especially not when he remembered the way Itachi had looked when he talked about how worried he was for his brother. 


	7. Chapter 7

Mei had called Kisame, Zabuza, Ameyuri, and Haku to her office to tell them about this mission herself. It was from a well-paying, high-profile client so she wanted to make sure they knew how important it was. The client was also very specific as to how the mission had to be conducted, so she wanted to make sure they all understood their roles perfectly. 

It was an assassination of a minor lord that had to be handled extremely discreetly. They had to attend a party he was throwing undercover. Or at least as undercover as someone like Kisame could be. They also weren’t supposed to draw any attention to themselves with the kill. The client mentioned that the target was paranoid, but also had a dangerous weakness for beautiful people. So their best chance was to use that to get him alone and then kill him. Ameyuri and Haku were going to be trying to get the target’s attention while Kisame and Zabuza were going in case anything went wrong. 

“I thought you said he was only interested in beautiful people. Why the hell are you sending Ameyuri?” She shrieked and then tried to stab Zabuza. He blocked with Kubikiribōchō and the sound of the swords clashing was loud in the office. Haku looked embarrassed with Zabuza.

“Swords away  _ now _ .” The room was suddenly much hotter and Mei was glaring at Ameyuri and Zabuza. She looked ready to use one or both of her kekkei genkai. Kisame grabbed Haku and took a few steps away from Ameyuri and Zabuza in case Mei did do something. They glared at each other, but did put their swords away. Mei smiled widely at them. “Thank you. Now I want to make sure this is as clear as possible. You have to be  _ discreet _ . That means no swords, no summons, and absolutely no mayhem. Got it?” All four of them nodded at once. “Great! Here's the target and the party’s location.” She handed all the information to Haku. “Now make me proud.”

“Yes Lady Mizukage.” Haku bowed low, but Ameyuri and Zabuza were already on their way out of the office. 

“We will Mei.” She smiled at him.

* * *

The party was happening at the target’s large home in the Land of Frost. They were able to get a few rooms at a nearby inn to stash their swords and get ready in. Kisame and Zabuza just had to put on clothes that looked fancy enough. Ameyuri and Haku had to make themselves look good and unthreatening. Haku pulled it off easily, but Ameyuri had more trouble. She didn’t understand why they kept telling her to stop smiling with all her teeth. She also thought she’d be able to hide her swords in her clothes and didn’t believe them when they told her they could clearly see them. Zabuza had to wrestle them away from her and then hid them. Haku had to help her fix her hair and clothes afterwards. 

“What the hell am I supposed to kill him with then?” 

“I don’t know. A kunai or something? You could put senbons in your hair like Haku did.” She looked at the way Haku had some of his hair pulled back into a bun with some senbons sticking out from it. She frowned.

“I hate using senbons.” Zabuza sighed loudly.

“Then just use your bare fucking hands or something. You can’t bring the swords.” Ameyuri also sighed loudly.

“This mission sucks.” 

“Yeah it does, so all the more reason to handle it quickly.” Kisame handed her a shuriken pouch. “You should be able to hide that easily enough.” She took it with only some grumbling. 

They left the inn once they were sure their swords were hidden well enough. Samehada chirped unhappily at being left behind, and Kisame felt bad for leaving it there alone. 

* * *

Apparently, even with all of his paranoia, the man loved throwing huge parties. They found the house easily enough as there were a ton of other people waiting to get inside. There were a ton of guards surrounding the house, but Kisame didn’t think they’d put up much of a fight if it came down to it. The guards didn’t even really check them very thoroughly before they let them into the house. 

The inside of the house was full, and Kisame couldn’t see the target anywhere. He had hoped they’d be able to do this mission quickly, but it was clear that wouldn’t be happening. The four of them split up and disappeared into the crowd. He tried to keep Ameyuri in his line of sight as he knew Zabuza would be doing the same thing with Haku. But it got more difficult to do as the house got more crowded.

Kisame lost Ameyuri at some point. He was pretty sure she had purposely given him the slip and he was a little worried as to why. The target still hadn’t shown, so he knew she wasn’t with him. He looked over to the side of the room with the drinks longingly. He wasn’t going to get drunk on a mission, but a lot of him wanted to. He wasn’t good at undercover missions and this one was already taking a lot longer than he wanted it to. Kisame sighed and tried to look for Ameyuri. He needed to find her before the target made an appearance as he had a feeling that Zabuza wasn’t going to let Haku try to slip away with the target. He was very protective of the young ninja, which was normally admirable, but became an inconvenience on missions. 

He didn’t have any luck finding her, but did find Haku. He couldn’t see Zabuza anywhere which was a bit strange, but that probably just meant that they were taking the mission seriously. He made his way over and put a hand on Haku’s back. “Hey Haku, have you seen Ameyuri?” The man who looked up at him wasn’t Haku. It took him more than a moment to recognize Itachi. It was the first time he had ever seen the other man without his sharingan. “Oh Itachi! I’m sorry!”

“Hello Kisame.” Itachi smiled up at him, and he felt the back of his neck get hot. It got hotter when he realized he still had his hand on the other man’s back. He dropped it quickly. “Enjoying the party?” His voice was light and teasing, and Kisame liked how it sounded.

“It’s alright. A little too crowded for my tastes. I suppose you’re not here for the open bar.” Itachi laughed, and he liked how that sounded too.

“No. I suppose you’re not either.” Kisame shook his head. Itachi’s smile shrank and now he looked concerned. “You’re not here to guard him are you?” Kisame shook his head again.

“And I’m guessing you’re not either.” Itachi shook his head. “So then let the best village win.” He smiled widely at Itachi, and Itachi smiled back.

“Do you think we have the same client or is this man just that unliked?” Kisame shrugged.

“From what I’ve overheard tonight it could be either.” Itachi made a thoughtful hum that could’ve been agreement. Kisame took the moment to look the other man over more closely. He did look a little like Haku, but it was easier to see the differences now that they were standing closer together. He also looked more beautiful than he had remembered, and Kisame felt out of place standing next to him. He should let Itachi get back to his mission and find Ameyuri. “I--”

“I’ve been hoping to see you again.” Itachi’s face was pink, but that could’ve been because of the heat of the room. Kisame knew his own face was flushed and knew it wasn’t because of the heat of the room.

“I...I’ve been hoping to see you too.” Kisame felt nervous even though he didn’t really know why. Itachi shifted closer, and he felt even more nervous.

“My brother told me about the time he saw you on a mission, and I’m really sorry for any trouble you got in. But I... _ thank you _ for not fighting.” Kisame’s face somehow felt even hotter.

“Of course. I know how worried you get about him.” Itachi smiled up at him. It was one of the softest smiles Kisame had ever seen and it was directed at  _ him _ . Kisame’s entire chest felt warm like he had just swallowed a fireball. 

“Thank you Kisame.” Itachi grabbed one of Kisame’s large hands and held it in both of his. His hands felt warm and soft, and Kisame liked how they felt against his own. “Do you want to go outside for a bit?” Kisame felt nervous again without understanding why.

“I...yeah. That’d be nice.” Itachi’s smile got wider and then he was tugging Kisame through the crowd. Kisame suddenly felt like he might have agreed to something else entirely. 

“Itachi.” The Copy Ninja Kakashi was standing in front of them suddenly. It looked like he was frowning under his mask. “What are you doing?” Itachi didn’t drop his hand and only held on tighter when Kisame tried to pull away.

“Just going outside for a second. There was something I needed to discuss with Kisame.” Kakashi looked at him suspiciously. 

“I’m sure whatever it is can wait until after the mission. Benjiri will be here any minute.” Itachi was frowning, but Kisame knew Kakashi was right. He should be focusing on the mission too. Especially as he could now see Ameyuri with some white-haired guy out of the corner of his eye. He squeezed Itachi’s hand tightly.

“It can. I’ll talk to you later, Itachi.” They both knew they probably wouldn’t get to talk to each other again that night, but Itachi did let go of his hand. 

“Goodbye Kisame.” 

Kisame walked away from Itachi and over to where he had seen Ameyuri. She was still there, but the white-haired man he had seen was gone. She was smiling at him mischievously. “So how’s Itachi?” Her tone was light and teasing, and he wanted to put in her a water prison.

“Fine. Where the hell were you?” Her smile somehow became more mischievous.

“Outside.” He sighed.

“You’re supposed to be attracting Benjiri’s attention.” She rolled her eyes.

“And I will when he even gets here. You should go back over to Itachi if you’re just going to be rude.” Now he rolled his eyes.

“He’s on a mission. The  _ same _ mission actually, so you need to focus.” 

“Yeah fine whatever.” 

Ameyuri didn’t wander away again, but her eyes frequently did to that white-hared man. Kisame didn’t scold her for it as his own eyes frequently wandered to Itachi. The other man was looking back almost every time, and he wasn’t quite sure what that meant. 

And then Benjiri finally showed up at his own party. He was middle-aged, balding, and almost entirely unremarkable. If it wasn’t for his minor lordship, Kisame was sure no one would come to his lavish parties. Kisame gently nudged Ameyuri towards him. Now that their target was here, he hoped they could finish the mission quickly. “Remember, don’t smile with all your teeth.” She rolled her eyes, but gave him a tight-lipped smile before walking away. He could also see Itachi making his way towards Benjiri. All that was left now was to wait.

Kisame found Zabuza in the crowd and was unsurprised to find Haku with him. The kid was glaring at the hand tightly clutching his arm, but the glare looked mostly for show. Haku was honestly too tender-hearted to be a ninja, but was determined to be one anyway. They all waited for Ameyuri together.

They didn’t have to wait long. Ameyuri rushed over to them, looped one of her arms through Zabuza’s and the other through Kisame’s, and then pulled them all towards the exit. “Time to go boys.” They followed her lead and left quickly. 

* * *

They didn’t slow their pace until they were back at the inn. Ameyuri waited until they were all crowded in her room before telling them what happened. “So technically  _ I _ didn’t kill him, but he’s dead and it looks like I could’ve done it. So mission complete I think.” She smiled at them widely. Kisame and Zabuza looked at each other in confusion before looking back at her.

“What the hell does any of that mean?” 

“It means Kisame’s cute little boyfriend waited until I had followed them into the room before killing him. So it looks like either one of us could’ve done it and now both of our villages can get paid. Now where the hell are my swords?” Kisame was too embarrassed to say anything, but Zabuza didn’t have that problem.

“Why would he do something like that?” She shrugged.

“He said he owed Kisame one and that was good enough for me. Now I’m not going to ask again. Where the hell are my swords, Zabuza?” He looked at her for a long moment before standing and leaving the room, presumably to get her swords. Haku followed without saying anything. Kisame stood up to leave too, but Ameyuri grabbed his sleeve before he could move. “I can understand why you like him.” The back of his neck felt incredibly hot.

“I never said I liked him.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“Then I guess I could understand how someone, who totally isn’t you, could like him. He’s a good ninja and has an odd sense of kindness about him. He’s really cute too.” She winked at him as she let go of his sleeve. “Goodnight Kisame.”

“Goodnight Ameyuri.” He left her room and passed by Zabuza on his way back with her swords. 

Kisame changed into more comfortable clothes and pulled out Samehada after he was back in his own room. His sword chirped happily as he unwound the bandages and fed it some of his own chakra. The chirping turned into something like purring as he started to clean Samehada. The sword didn’t really need it, but it was his favorite thing to do after a long day. And it gave him something to do with his hands as he tried to imagine what it was that Itachi had wanted to talk to him about earlier. 

The knock on the door startled him. He hadn’t sensed anyone approaching, which probably meant he needed to sleep. Kisame laid Samehada on the bed and then got up to answer the door. He blinked a few times to make sure he was actually seeing who he thought he was. “Hey Itachi. What are you doing here?” Itachi’s cheeks were pink and he looked nervous.

“Hello Kisame. Ameyuri  _ may  _ have let me know that you were staying at this inn, and I  _ may  _ have suggested that my team also stay here. I had wanted to finish our conversation from earlier, if that’s okay?” Kisame’s chest felt warm again.

“Yeah that’s okay.” He shifted a bit so he wasn’t blocking the doorway. “Do you want to come in?” Itachi nodded once and then walked into the room. He immediately looked over to Samehada as it was wiggling and chirping. “Oh that’s just Samehada.” Itachi still looked confused. “My sword.”

“Oh! I didn’t know they were sentient.” Kisame walked over and patted Samehada in the specific way he knew it liked. 

“Nah, just this one. I was just cleaning it.” He grabbed the bandages to quickly rewrap Samehada as Itachi walked over. 

“Could I…” He looked nervous again. “Could I touch it?” Kisame felt that warmth in his chest grow as Samehada chirped excitedly.

“Yeah if you really want to. Samehada will take some chakra though, so you’ll need to be careful.” Itachi looked determined and nodded once. He reached his hand out without any hesitation and brushed it over Samehada like he was petting a bird. Samehada made that purr-like noise and didn’t try to attack Itachi. 

“Thank you.” Itachi said it mostly to Samehada, which had it chirping again. Kisame patted his sword one more time and then wrapped it back up in its bandages. He gently leaned it against the wall and then turned to look at Itachi. 

“Ameyuri told us what you did tonight, so thank you.” Itachi shrugged and walked over to him.

“I owed you for failing that mission for my brother.” He shifted even closer to Kisame and looked up at him. “But that isn’t what I had wanted to talk to you about.” Kisame felt nervous, but also excited. His blood was thrumming just under his skin like he was about to get into a fight.

“Then what did you want to talk about?” Itachi somehow shifted even closer.

“I like you Kisame.” The warmth in his chest felt even hotter, like Itachi had hit him with a fire jutsu.

“Oh.” Kisame thought about his conversation with Haku and the soft smile Itachi had given him earlier. “I like you too.” Itachi smiled up at him. Then he was suddenly leaning up and had wrapped his arms around Kisame’s neck. And then Itachi was kissing him.

Kisame froze. He didn’t have a lot of experience with being kissed and was surprised that  _ Itachi _ was kissing him. He wasn’t sure what to do. But he didn’t have long to panic about it as Itachi was already pulling away from him. The other man looked embarrassed and a little upset. “I apologize. I’m now realizing that we didn’t mean it in the same way.” He tried to take a step back, but Kisame grabbed his arm gently before he could.

“We did. Or at least I think we did. I just….are you sure?” 

“I am sure.” Itachi was looking up at him hopefully again.

“Are you though? We’re from different villages, you’re from an important clan, and I know what I look like.” Now Itachi was frowning at him in confusion.

“I don’t understand.” Kisame sighed.

“I mean I look like a giant sharkman.” Itachi’s frown grew more pronounced as he found a way to get even further in Kisame’s space.

“I know we’re from different villages and I know what my clan expects from me. I also know that I like you. You’re an excellent and honorable ninja. You’ve been working to reform your village and you try to keep your genin safe. I also think you’re very handsome.” Itachi covered his mouth with one of his hands before he could say anything. “The life of a ninja is a dangerous one, and we could die on our next mission. I narrowly avoided completing a mission that would’ve been the biggest regret of my life, so I’ve been trying to avoid all other regrets too. I understand if any of those things are too much for you and I’d respect your decision. But I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t at least tell you how I felt.” He took his hand off of Kisame’s mouth. “I like you Kisame Hoshigaki and would like to be with you anyway I can.” 

There were a lot of things Kisame could’ve said. He didn’t say anything though. Instead he leaned down and kissed Itachi. Itachi wound his arms back around Kisame’s neck and kissed back hungrily. Kisame wrapped his own arms around Itachi’s waist and somehow pulled him even closer.

They stopped kissing only when it had started to get hard to breathe. Itachi’s cheek’s were pink and he had some small cuts on his lip from Kisame’s teeth, but he was looking up at Kisame in awe. Kisame knew he probably had a similar look on his own face. His chest felt warm and light, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had ever felt like this. He shifted back just far enough to run his fingers through Itachi’s hair. He had always wanted to know if it felt as soft as it looked. It did. Itachi leaned into the touch, and his chest felt even warmer.

“I should probably leave before my teammates start to look for me.” Itachi didn’t really sound like he wanted to leave and he didn’t make any move to pull away Kisame. 

“Yeah.” Kisame didn’t make any move to pull away from Itachi either. Instead he leaned down and then they were kissing again.

They stopped kissing when they both felt someone’s chakra in the hallway. Kisame didn’t recognize it, but Itachi seemed to. He sighed and pulled away completely. “I should actually go this time.” He kissed Kisame on the cheek and then quickly made some hand signs. There was a small puff of smoke and then the woman from the inn’s front desk was standing in front of him where Itachi had been a moment before. “Goodnight Kisame.” She winked at him before leaving the room.

Kisame waited a moment before turning the lights off and laying down in bed. He didn’t fall asleep for a long time as he kept thinking about the way Itachi’s lips felt pressed against his own. He still couldn’t believe that Itachi had kissed him and that he  _ liked _ him. But Kisame decided not to think about it too much as he wanted to keep the warmth in his chest burning for as long as he could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sword time! Kubikiribōchō is the sword Zabuza and Suigetsu use both in Naruto and in this! Suigetsu is just training with it here though. Also called the Executioner's Blade >:)! (https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Kubikirib%C5%8Dch%C5%8D)
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone seemed to know that  _ something _ had happened with Itachi at the inn, but Kisame didn’t answer any of their questions about it. He ignored Ameyuri’s insistence that he now owed her one and Zabuza’s teasing jabs. Kisame did tell Haku everything, but not until they were back home and could hide from the others.

Haku listened patiently and didn’t tease him once. He did smile widely at Kisame when he was done talking. “I’m glad you told him and I’m glad he feels the same way.”

“Yeah, I am too kid.” Kisame looked over over the ocean and smiled to himself when he noticed some sharks swimming nearby. “Do you think we’ll be able to make it work?”

“I do. And I may have overheard that the Mizukage has recently become determined to improve our relationship with the Leaf Village.” Kisame felt both happy and embarrassed at that. “So I don’t think being from different villages will be too much of a problem.”

“I guess I owe Mei a favor.” Haku laughed pleasantly.

“Yeah you probably do.” 

* * *

Mei’s favor was to get the kids ready for the chunin exams. Improving relations with the Leaf meant sending a few teams to their upcoming chunin exams. The problem was that since the coup, they hadn’t really been training genin in the same way as the other villages. They also just didn’t really have enough jonin to spare for training. So most of their genin were trained in groups for specific kinds of things with Suigetsu, Nori, and Chōjūrō getting individual training with the swords. Mei and Ao usually promoted people to chunin based on talent and recommendations from senior ninja. It had been working pretty well for them, but wasn’t helpful for this.

The start of the chunin exams was only a month away, so Mei and Ao were frantically dividing their genin up into teams as Kisame and the other Swordsmen had to train all of them. They had to figure out which ones had enough skill to go and then teach those ones things like teamwork, jutsus, and bladework. It was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, and he had to constantly remind himself that he would get to see Itachi again at the end of it. 

To make things easier, Mei had just made Suigetsu, Nori, and Chōjūrō into one team, but they were honestly the hardest team to deal with. Individually, they were each extremely skilled already. But they were having a lot of trouble with the teamwork aspect. Kisame had tried to encourage Chōjūrō to take the lead with them as he was the most level-headed, but, as he was also the least confident, he usually let Suigetsu take charge. Suigetsu and Nori would then clash as they were too similar. Suigetsu would also turn on them whenever he got bored, which was unfortunately often. They had all also got upset when they heard they wouldn’t be allowed to use the legendary swords in the exam. Mangetsu had tried to explain things like fairness and theft risk to them, but they didn’t care. 

Kisame was ready to kill each genin in the village when it was finally time to leave for the exam. The Leaf Village was about four days away, so they left a week early so they weren’t pushing the kids too much on the way there. After the month of dividing and training, Mei and Ao had decided to send three teams with all of the Swordsmen and Haku acting as their teachers. Kisame was a little nervous to leave the village without any of the Swordsmen, but Mei said they’d be fine. 

The journey itself went well with only a slight detour as they let the genin lead the way. They got lost somewhere in Fire Country, but not for too long. The kids were all just excited for the exam, which was kind of cute. Kisame was also excited when they finally saw the gate for the Leaf Village. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter to set up for some chapters where things actually happen! And I made up the promotion system in the Mist for this, but I looked back at a lot of chunin exam stuff while writing and I may have actually been right? There are no Mist ninjas in the chunin exam arc so technically I'm not wrong ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

They were almost at the village’s gate when a masked anbu appeared in front of them. Kisame smiled as he recognized Itachi. He wasn’t sure if he should say anything in front of all the genin, but Itachi decided for him. He took off his mask and walked up to Kisame. “Hello Kisame. Welcome to the Leaf Village.” Itachi smiled up at him, and he felt that warmth in his chest.

“Hey Itachi. I hope we didn’t come too early?” Itachi shook his head, and Kisame watched his ponytail sway with the motion. “I--”

“Hey Itachi!” Ameyuri and Nori shoved their way next to him and shouted it up at Itachi at the same time. 

“Hello.” Itachi smiled at them pleasantly, and Kisame was jealous for a quick moment. “Are you nervous for the exam?” Nori shook her head vigorously and smacked Kisame with her hair.

“No way! We’re going to show everyone what the new Swordsmen are all about.” Her smile turned mischievous, and Kisame became worried. “Hey Itachi, don’t you think Kisame should let us use the swords for the exam?” Itachi laughed as Kisame rolled his eyes.

“I think that’s up to all of your teachers and not me. But if it  _ was _ up to me I’d still say no. My brother’s also taking the exam, and I want him to have a fair chance.” Nori somehow seemed to take that as a compliment because she smiled up at Itachi before moving back towards Suigetsu and Chōjūrō. 

“Hey, are any of the other villages here yet?” Ameyuri didn’t have a mischievous look which was more suspicious than if she had. 

“Grass and Sand. Someone you’re hoping to see?” Itachi’s voice was light and teasing, and it felt like he knew something that the rest of them didn’t. Ameyuri blushed and avoided all of their eyes.

“No. Just curious.” Itachi hummed and then grabbed Kisame’s hand. Kisame felt himself blush and also avoided everyone’s eyes as they whistled at him. He heard Suigetsu and some of the other genin pretend to gag, but he tried to ignore them. 

“I’ll show you where you’ll be staying during the exam.” Itachi tugged on Kisame’s hand and led them through the gate. 

There were two ninja waiting in an outpost on the other side. They looked at everyone’s headband and then quickly wrote something down. “Is this everyone for the Mist?” The ninja who asked looked over at Mangetsu, who nodded in response. “Okay great. I can show you where you’ll be staying.”

“Actually--” They both looked at Itachi in surprise. Then they both noticed that he was still holding Kisame’s hand and their eyes widened even further. Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot. “I already told them that I could show them.”

“Oh...uh alright Itachi. Thanks.” Itachi started pulling him away before the other ninja finished speaking. Kisame could see the rest of the group following them from the corner of his eye.

The village wasn’t particularly crowded, but everyone did stare at them as they walked by. Kisame wasn’t too surprised at that as they were a large and loud group. It also didn’t help that seven of them had oddly sharpened teeth or that Zabuza had dressed almost all of the genin in that ugly camouflage he liked. Suigetsu was the only one who refused to wear it on the grounds that he thought it was ugly. The staring wouldn’t have bothered Kisame so much if it had only been because of the strangeness of them, but he could tell that a lot of it was because Itachi was with them. Even more of it was because Itachi was  _ still _ holding his hand. His grip tightened each time Kisame tried to let go, so he had stopped trying. 

Itachi finally stopped in front of a building that looked like an inn. “They already have your rooms all set up. I need to go let the Hokage know you’re here. But…” Itachi was looking up at him hopefully. “I was hoping I could give you a tour of the village later. If you wanted that is.” Kisame ignored the sound of Ameyuri and Zabuza whistling and smiled at Itachi.

“Yeah. That sounds nice.” Itachi didn’t make any move to leave and it felt like he was waiting for something. Kisame had no idea what he was waiting for though. 

“I don’t want to overwhelm you, but I’d like to kiss you.” Kisame felt his entire face get hot.

“Are you sure? I would understand if you didn’t want anyone in your village to know.” Itachi rolled his eyes, yanked him down by his shirt collar, and then kissed him. He heard Zabuza say ‘I fucking knew it’, but ignored him. Instead Kisame pulled Itachi even closer and kissed him back. 

Itachi’s face was pink when he pulled away. He put his mask on quickly, and Kisame had a feeling it was to hide his blush. “I’ll see you later, Kisame.” And then Itachi was gone. The rest of his group was also gone, so he assumed they were already inside. Kisame went inside and found out that he was somehow the only one with a room to himself.

* * *

As he waited for Itachi, Kisame had to help all of the kids with their weird requests. Nori and Kori both wanted their hair braided and didn’t want to bother Haku. Suigetsu wanted Kisame to help him sharpen his kunai. Ruka and Chōjūrō wanted him to make sure their hand signs looked right for the Hidden Mist jutsu. 

He had only just gotten a moment to himself when he saw Itachi perched on the windowsill. He wasn’t wearing his anbu uniform and his hair wasn’t in its usual ponytail. “Hey Itachi.” 

“Hello Kisame.” Itachi climbed into the room gracefully. “Would you still like that tour?” 

“Yeah. I just need to leave Samehada with Mangetsu so the kids don’t hurt themselves.” Kisame didn’t walk over to Samehada though. Instead he walked over to Itachi, leaned down, and kissed him. Itachi must’ve been expecting it because he kissed back without any hesitation.

“Gross!” Kisame pulled away and looked over at Suigetsu. The door was still shut, which meant the kid had used his weird water technique to slide under the door.

“Suigetsu, you’re supposed to knock and then use the door normally.” Suigetsu rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah whatever. Spar with me.” Kisame sighed and then went over to pick up Samehada.

“No, I'm busy.” Suigetsu huffed loudly and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You don’t look very busy.” Kisame sighed again.

“Well I am, so go bother your brother or something.” Suigetsu huffed again before melting into a puddle of water and sliding under the door. Itachi watched him leave with interest. 

“Is that a kekkei genkai?” Itachi followed him out of the room the normal way. 

“Yeah. The Hōzukis have a few different secrets like that. It’s one of the reasons why the kid’s so cocky.” They found Mangetsu with Chōjūrō and Haku filling up shuriken pouches for all of the genin. Mangetsu grinned up at him when he noticed Itachi.

“Going out Kisame?” Mangetsu’s voice was light and teasing, but he still wasn’t as embarrassing as Ameyuri or Zabuza would’ve been. 

“Yeah. Can you watch over Samehada for me?”

“Yeah of course.” He reached out for the sword, and Samehada chirped in excitement. “Have fun.” He winked at them, and Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot. Itachi pulled him out of the room before he could say anything back. 

Itachi pulled him out of the building and down the street. Like before, most people stared at them. Also like before, Itachi didn’t drop his hand. He pointed out things as they walked like his favorite teashop, the academy, and the flower shop. He told Kisame stories about his brother and listened to Kisame’s own stories about training all their genin. The warmth in his chest had spread all over, and Kisame couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this peaceful. 

The tour ended at a spot just outside of the Uchiha District overlooking the river. It was quiet and secluded, and Kisame should’ve been nervous to be there alone with Itachi of the Sharingan. But he wasn’t. He was excited and could feel his blood thrumming just below his skin. He was only more excited as Itachi backed him against a tree. Itachi smiled up at him in the same soft way he had on that mission, and Kisame’s breath caught for a moment. And then they were kissing.

At some point Itachi had slid his hands under Kisame’s shirt, so Kisame pulled him in closer. He didn’t seem to mind his rough skin or the way his lip would sometimes get caught on Kisame’s teeth. It actually seemed like Itachi liked it. He slid one of his own hands under Itachi’s shirt and felt a heat low in his gut as Itachi whimpered into the kiss. He tried to pull Itachi even closer. 

Kisame rested his forehead against Itachi’s when they finally stopped kissing. The other man’s cheeks were flush and he was out of breath and he looked beautiful. Kisame still couldn’t believe that Itachi liked him, but he was going to do whatever he could to keep the other man close for as long as he could. He brought both his hands to Itachi’s face and felt that warmth again when Itachi leaned into the touch. 

“So this must be Kisame.” Itachi pulled away just enough to turn and look at the man who spoke. Kisame looked over too, but didn’t recognize him. He had short dark hair, an eyepatch over his right eye, and kind of looked like Itachi. “You know Izumi told me that Hana told her that Genma told her that he saw you making out with an eight foot tall shark in the middle of the village earlier.” Itachi rolled his eyes.

“Hello Shisui. Yes this is Kisame.” Shisui was near them suddenly, and Kisame remembered why his name sounded familiar.

“It’s an honor to meet Shisui the Teleporter.” Kisame smiled at him and hoped he didn’t take it as a threat. 

“I could say the same thing about the tailless tailed beast.” Shisui smiled back. “I’m honestly just excited to meet the guy my cousin can’t stop talking about.”

“Shisui.” Itachi’s voice was sharp like a warning, but his cheeks were red. 

“I am a bit upset that you’re not really eight feet tall though.” Kisame laughed, and Itachi’s cheeks turned an even darker red.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Shisui laughed pleasantly. 

“What did you need, Shisui?” 

“Your dad’s looking for you. Apparently there’s something he needs to talk to you about.” Itachi sighed.

“Of course there is. Thanks Shisui.” He looked at Shisui pointedly, but the other man didn’t seem to notice. “ _ Goodbye  _ Shisui.” Shisui rolled his eye.

“But I want to talk to Kisame.”

“You can later.” Itachi pulled further away from Kisame so he could gently push his cousin. “Goodbye.” Shisui huffed.

“Goodbye I guess.” He disappeared all at once. Itachi shifted closer again and then wrapped himself up in Kisame’s arms. 

“You know we had thought that Shisui the Teleporter had died.” Kisame realized that probably wasn’t the best thing to say only after he had said it. He felt Itachi sigh against his chest. “Sorry! Obviously he’s fine.” 

“He’s not really fine. Some days are better than others, but he had been poisoned badly years ago and can’t go on missions anymore.” Itachi pressed his face against Kisame’s chest so the rest of what he said was muffled. “We had been working with the council to try and relieve tension between the clan and the village, but then it had become clear that one of them just wanted an end to the clan. He poisoned Shisui and managed to take one of his eyes before Shisui could escape. Then Shisui tried to kill himself so I could get the Mangekyō Sharingan, but I was able to catch him in time. We were able to get justice and prevent a civil war, but Shisui’s body never really healed.” Kisame didn’t really understand what a Mangekyō Sharingan was, but could tell that the whole thing had been weighing on Itachi since it happened. He rubbed circles on the other man’s back and hoped it was comforting. “I’m sorry. This probably isn’t what you had hoped for from today.” 

“It’s alright Itachi. We’re ninjas. Most of our lives are made up of stories like that.” He felt Itachi sigh again. 

“Unfortunately you’re right.” He shifted so he could look up at Kisame. “But I guess that’s why we have to keep working to make things better.” Kisame also shifted so he was holding Itachi’s face again.

“Yeah exactly.” They looked at each other for a long moment, but then Kisame remembered why Shisui had even found them. “Do you need to go talk to your dad?” Itachi sighed and leaned even further into Kisame’s touch.

“He probably just wants to talk about the rumors of me kissing an eight foot tall shark.” Kisame laughed louder than he had meant to. “He can wait a little longer.” 

They stayed there a little longer. They held each other tightly, and Itachi told him happier stories about Shisui. Kisame tried to tell some of his own happier stories, but it was difficult to think of them. Eventually Itachi walked him back to the inn and kissed him for a long time before leaving.

The warmth in Kisame’s chest stayed all night, even after he found a bunch of the kids hiding from Zabuza in his room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chunin exams time! I'll mention the things that are different, but for the most part things are the same. Shisui's not dead because I think he's cool! The two 'named' Mist genin are minor! Ruka is a random Mist ninja from the war arc who looked young enough to have been a genin in part 1 and Kori is a NPC from that Naruto game I play.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!


	10. Chapter 10

Kisame had mostly been looking at Itachi during the tour the day before, but he remembered enough to lead everyone to somewhere for breakfast. The kids were all excited for the exam to start tomorrow, so it was challenging to get them all to focus. He was constantly going after Suigetsu who kept trying to sneak away for some reason. He may have used Samehada to drain just a little chakra from the kid to make him easier to manage, but Mangetsu didn’t need to know that. People stared at them again, but it didn’t feel as intense as it had the day before. Most of the kids didn’t seem to mind it, but Suigetsu and Nori kept making rude faces back which Haku tried to discourage. Kisame sighed in relief when they were finally near the place. 

“HEY IT’S HAKU! HEY HAKU!!” The loud genin in the orange jumpsuit was waving at Haku vigorously from across the street. Haku waved back more normally. Itachi’s brother and the pink-haired genin were also with him and they turned to look at Haku too. Kisame could see the moment the kid activated his sharingan and had a bad feeling. He tried to walk over to Haku as the three genin did the same. Kisame had trouble though as the rest of the group had stopped to stare at the shout. Haku looked nervous as they got closer, which didn’t surprise him. Itachi’s brother looked angry and he had his hands clenched tightly into fists.

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” His voice was quiet, but seethed with anger. Haku jerked back like he had been slapped. The other two genin looked at their teammate in shock, but didn’t say anything yet. “I asked you what the hell you’re doing here?!” Only a few seconds had passed since he first asked. Haku jerked again.

“Sasuke….” The girl tried to grab his arm but he pulled away from her.

“I’m here for the exam.” Haku’s voice was small and he sounded close to tears. Kisame had no idea how he knew these kids, but had a feeling they hadn’t ended on the best terms. He was almost to Haku and could see Zabuza making his way over too.

“You almost killed me and Naruto and now you think you can just come here and act like it never happened?” Now the loud genin was tugging on Sasuke’s arm.

“Sasuke, he didn’t want to do any of that.” He roughly tugged his arm away.

“But he did!” And now Haku was crying. Kisame has finally reached him and tried to put an arm around his shoulders, but Haku jerked away from that too.

“I’m sorry! I really didn’t want to hurt you, but the mission--”

“I don’t fucking care what your mission was.” Sasuke took a step closer to Haku as he said it. Zabuza reached them and had also tried to put an arm around Haku’s shoulder, but he jerked away from that too. “And you!” Sasuke was now pointing at Zabuza who looked ready to draw his sword.

“Me what? I don’t know and I don’t care who you are, but you can’t talk to him like that.” Sasuke only looked angrier and now both of his teammates were trying to tug at his arms.

“You don’t recognize us?” Zabuza didn’t even look at them. He was looking at Haku, who was trying to wipe the tears off his face.

“No, why would I?” Sasuke gritted his teeth loudly, shook off both his teammates, and grabbed a kunai from his pouch. Zabuza had seen that and pulled Kubikiribōchō off his back in response. Kisame immediately pushed in between them and caught their weapons before they could clash. Zabuza had noticed him and pulled back just enough that Kubikiribōchō hadn’t cut off his hand, but the wound was still deep and it hurt like hell. In comparison, the cut from the kunai barely stung. All of the genin, both from the Mist and the Leaf, were looking at him in shock.

“Kisame…” Haku’s voice was still watery, but he was also trying to get a look at both of Kisame’s hands. And then Itachi was there too, looking at them all in concern. 

“Sasuke, what…” He trailed off as he looked over at Kisame and noticed the blood on each of his hands. “Kisame, what happened?” He saw Sasuke cross his arms over his chest angrily as Itachi’s attention left him. 

“Just a misunderstanding.” He tried to hold his hands out of view, but Itachi grabbed them gently and looked at the wounds. “Nothing to worry about.” He smiled widely at Itachi, but he still looked concerned. He looked back over at his brother.

“Sasuke, what happened?” 

“Nothing.” He sounded bratty in the same way Suigetsu always did with Mangetsu.

“The giant shark man ran in between Sasuke and the giant sword!!” The genin with the orange jumpsuit was waving his arms around as he shouted. “And I had just wanted to say ‘hi’ to Haku, but Sasuke was being a huge jerk and made him cry!” 

“Shut  _ up _ idiot.” Sasuke punched his teammate hard on the arm. Itachi frowned at him.

“Sasuke, don’t punch Naruto.” The kid scowled at Itachi. “And don’t try to cause trouble with the other villages.” His scowl deepened.

“But that guy almost killed us!” Kisame saw Haku jerk back again. He tried to put a hand on Haku’s shoulder, but then remembered that his hands were covered in blood. Itachi looked between Sasuke and Haku.

“Today?” Sasuke looked away from his brother and didn’t say anything else. The pink-haired girl sighed loudly and then looked at Itachi.

“No. It was on a mission a while ago.”

“I see. Thank you Sakura.” She beamed up at him. “Sasuke, I understand it can be difficult--” Sasuke didn’t wait for his brother to finish. He turned away from them and then jumped into a nearby tree. Both of his teammates sighed before following. Nori, Kori, and Suigetsu all stuck their tongues out at their backs as they left. Itachi also sighed and then looked back at Kisame’s hands. “You should stop by the hospital.”

“He’s fine.” Zabuza didn’t even look over at his hands. He was still trying to comfort Haku who didn’t want to be comforted. “I barely even got him.” Itachi looked ready to argue, but Kisame gently grabbed one of his hands and tried not to wince.

“I’m really fine. I can just bandage this up.” Itachi still looked unsure, but didn’t argue with him.

“Alright. I’ll help you.” Kisame saw Ameyuri wink at him as she started to finally herd the kids into the building. Itachi then tugged him away from the group and back in the direction of the building they were staying in. Kisame tried to pull his hand away as he was covering Itachi’s with blood, but Itachi wouldn’t let him go. 

Their rooms were quiet without all of the genin running around. He grabbed some bandages from Magetsu’s pack as it was the first one he saw, and then Itachi was pulling him into the bathroom. He held Kisame’s hands close to his face and was looking at them through his sharingan. He was frowning, but his hands were gentle as he touched the wounds. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay Itachi.” Itachi pulled his hands into the sink, and he tried not to wince as the water ran over the wounds. A lot of blood ran off into the water, and Itachi’s frown grew worse.

“I’m sorry Sasuke yelled at your friend. He’s very skilled as a ninja, but has difficulty separating himself from the missions.” Itachi pulled his hands out from under the water and used a towel to gently pat them dry. “I honestly never wanted him to be a ninja, but it wasn’t up to me. And whenever I say anything about it, Sasuke assumes I’m looking down on him. I just want to keep him safe.”

“I know you do Itachi. And he knows it too. Suigetsu’s the same way with Mangetsu. It’s just a younger brother thing.” Itachi started to wrap the bandages around his hand. He was doing it tightly, which Kisame knew was the right way to do it, but it hurt.

“Yeah you’re right. Still, I’m sorry that he got you injured.” After he finished wrapping up both hands, Itachi kissed each of his palms gently. Kisame felt his heart start to race.

“It’s okay. Luckily you were here to patch me up.” They smiled at each other, and Kisame’s pulse felt like it had gotten faster. “Are you busy today?” Itachi shook his head, and Kisame noticed that he didn’t have his hair in its usual ponytail. “Do you want to get breakfast with me?” 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Kisame kissed him and it lasted longer than he had meant it to. But he didn’t regret it. Especially not as Itachi smiled up at him after he pulled away.

Ameyuri threw them a knowing look as they joined the rest of the group for breakfast, but Kisame pretended not to notice it. He also pretended not to notice Mangetsu’s as Itachi shifted them after they sat down so that one of Kisame’s arms was around his shoulders. All of the genin had tried to ask Itachi a million questions about the upcoming exam as they ate. He answered only the generic ones and tactfully avoided the other ones. Haku had been quiet when they first got there, but became more like his usual self the more he talked with Itachi. The warmth in his chest grew throughout breakfast, and Kisame thought that this could be something he could get used to. 

* * *

Kisame left the genin in the hands of the other Swordsmen and spent the rest of the day with Itachi. They spent most of it at the same spot by the river. Kisame told Itachi about Fuguki, the coup, and all of the plans they had made for a better village. He told him about all of the things he hoped their genin would never have to do. Itachi told him about how he wanted to be Hokage and wanted all of the same things for his own village. He said it like he never thought it could really happen, but Kisame thought he’d be the best Hokage the village had ever seen. Itachi had that same kind of passion that Mei had which made people want to follow them.

They had only left to get dango, which Itachi had ordered a ton of. They brought it to a dock by a lake near the Uchiha District, and Itachi insisted on feeding it to Kisame as his hands were injured. His face had a determined intensity to it as he did, and Kisame imagined that’s what his face had always looked like when they fought. When they were finished, Itachi slid onto his lap, and Kisame felt both embarrassed and excited. “Is this too much?” 

“It’s not. Just are you--” Itachi covered his mouth with a hand.

“I’ll put you in a genjutsu if you ask me if I’m sure.” Kisame laughed and pulled Itachi’s hand off his mouth.

“Then I won’t ask.” Instead he rested his hands on Itachi’s waist and followed his lead as Itachi kissed him.

They pulled away from each other a long time later when they could both hear giggling from the nearby bushes. Kisame recognized the noise as his genin. He winked at Itachi, made some hand signs, and then turned quickly to shoot some water bullets into the bushes. He heard a squeak that he recognized as Chōjūrō, and then Ameyuri and all of the genin were climbing out of the bushes. “What are you doing?” Kisame directed his question to Ameyuri who was grinning widely at them.

“Stealth training. It took you guys a long time to notice us.”

“It probably would’ve taken even longer if you guys had stayed quiet.” Itachi sounded impressed with them, and Kisame felt a swell of pride. 

“It’s just that you guys were kissing for such a  _ long _ time.” Ruka’s voice had a teasing, sing-song quality to it that made Kisame feel embarrassed.

“It was so gross.” Suigetsu’s voice was rude and bratty, but that made him feel embarrassed too. He gently slid Itachi off his lap, helped him stand, and then they both walked over to the group.

“You won’t think kissing’s gross forever.” Ameyuri had went to slap Suigetsu’s back as she said it, but there was a loud splash as her hand smacked water. “Fuck I hate it when you do that.” Suigetsu stuck his tongue out at her and there was another splash as she tried to hit him again. 

“This is probably a good time to take them all back to the inn.” All the genin groaned at Kisame’s suggestion. “You need to be well-rested for the exam.” 

“Kisame’s right. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.” They all looked at Itachi eagerly, hoping for more information about the exam. But just smiled at them kindly.

“You heard them, time for bed brats.” Ameyuri started ushering the genin back to the main road, and Kisame and Itachi followed them. 

They were back in the main part of the village when they noticed a group of ninja from the Cloud Village. Kisame normally would’ve only given them a passing glance, but Ameyuri had let out a shriek of laughter as she saw them. Then she ran at them and pulled her swords out as she did. Kisame had no idea what was going on and it looked like most of the Cloud ninja didn’t either. One of them was ready for her and immediately blocked her blow with his own sword. It looked like he was smiling at her, but it was hard to tell as he had something in his mouth. And because Kisame was busy rushing to grab as many as the genin as he could. They saw Ameyuri’s attack as a signal and tried to rush over too. Itachi luckily also started grabbing genin without being asked, so they were able to avoid an all out fight with everyone from the Cloud Village. 

Ameyuri and the Cloud ninja were still fighting each other. She was laughing as they fought, but she almost always laughed as she fought. The man had a lot of skill with his sword, and Kisame would’ve been impressed if he hadn’t been too worried that Ameyuri was causing an international incident. He noticed that a bunch of Leaf ninjas had appeared at some point and were surrounding all of them. He also noticed that they had all had the same fan-like crest on their uniforms that Itachi had on the back of his shirt. 

“Drop your swords!” One of the Leaf ninja yelled it at them. They did both drop their swords, which had surprised Kisame at first. But then he was no longer surprised when Ameyuri tackled the Cloud ninja to the ground. He was surprised again though when she had used their new positions to pull a lollipop out of the guy’s mouth and then kiss him hard. The man kissed her back, and Kisame had no idea what was going on at all anymore. The ninjas watching from both the Cloud and the Leaf also looked like they had no idea what was going on. The only person who didn’t look surprised was Nori.

“Nori, who the hell is that?” The kid smiled up at him.

“That’s Ameyuri’s boyfriend Omoi.” Kisame looked over at them again and realized that Omoi was that white-haired guy from that undercover mission a month ago.

“I see.” He let go of the genin he was holding, and saw Itachi do the same. "Do they do this every time they see each other?" Nori shrugged.

"I think so." Kisame sighed and hoped Ameyuri wasn't about to be put in a holding cell or something. He wasn’t sure if he should go pull her away from the guy or not and it looked like the Leaf ninjas were thinking the same thing. 

“Itachi, what’s going on here?” A ninja with a stern look and the same crest as Itachi had walked over to them.

“Nothing father. Just a uh...passionate reunion. Everything’s alright.” The ninja, who was apparently Itachi’s father, looked like he didn’t believe him. He looked over at all the Mist genin in suspicion. Then he looked at Kisame, and his suspicious look gave way to one of dawning horror and realization. Kisame then realized he had never asked Itachi what he had talked about with his dad the day before.

“Itachi, who is this?” His question was full of suspicion and it made Kisame nervous. 

“This is Kisame Hoshigaki from the Mist and their genin.” Itachi’s answer was polite, but rigidly so. It had some of the kids glaring at his father, which wasn’t what Kisame needed right now.

“I apologize for my teammate. She gets excited easily.” He tried smiling at Itachi’s dad, but the man’s stern look was back. “I uh can go get her?” He didn’t reply, but turned his stern look back to Itachi. 

“I think there’s more we need to talk about later, son.” Kisame saw Itachi clench his jaw, but then he smiled without any teeth.

“Of course father.” The kids glared harder, and Kisame sighed again. He walked over to Ameyuri, who was still kissing Omoi. He nudged her gently with his foot. She pulled away from Omoi and glared up at him.

“Why couldn’t you just say hello like a normal person?”

“This was normal.” It didn’t look like she was going to stand up any time soon, so he pulled her up by the back of her shirt. Then he held out a hand to Omoi and helped pull him up too. Ameyuri didn’t seem to care about all of the ninjas looking at them, but Omoi seemed to panic as he noticed them.

“Oh no. What if the Raikage hears about this and then exiles me from the village? Or what if this causes the next war and everyone I know dies? Or what if--” Ameyuri reached into Omoi’s pocket as he started to ramble, pulled out a lollipop, and then shoved it into his mouth. 

“No one’s starting a war over a kiss Omoi.” She slapped him on the back hard, but he just gave her a fond look.

“I guess you’re right.” He looked over at Kisame and looked sheepish. “Sorry for causing trouble. I’m Omoi.” He held out his hand without any hesitation and for a moment Kisame could see why she was interested in him. 

“Kisame.” Kisame shook his hand once and then looked back at Ameyuri. “Now go apologize to everyone else.” She huffed at him, but picked her swords up and walked over to the other Cloud ninjas. Omoi picked up his own sword and followed her. Kisame walked back over to Itachi and the genin. 

Itachi’s father wasn’t there anymore, which Kisame was a bit relieved about. But Itachi looked tense. Kisame pushed down his own nerves and wrapped Itachi into a hug as soon as he was close enough. The kids all made teasing noises at them, but Itachi immediately melted into his hold. Kisame started to rub circles on Itachi’s back, and Itachi melted even further. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah. My father and I just haven’t seen eye-to-eye on many things for a long time.” Itachi sighed, kissed Kisame’s neck quickly, and then pulled away. “We should get your genin back to the inn.”

“Yeah. Ameyuri can make her own way back later. Let’s go brats.” The kids looked ready to argue, but Kisame just started pushing some of them in the right direction. 

Itachi left as soon as they got back to the inn. He kissed Kisame quickly and then left in a blur. The kids teased him as he herded them back to their rooms, but Kisame wasn’t as embarrassed as he would’ve been before. The teasing also stopped as soon as they saw how bad of a mood Zabuza was in. Then they all rushed into their rooms and stayed there. Kisame also did his best to avoid Zabuza after he heard from Mangetsu that Haku had went out with that loud genin in the orange jumpsuit for ramen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reminder Kubikiribōchō is Zabuza's sword!
> 
> As promised the land of waves arc does come back up! Sasuke doesn't have his in-canon trauma, but he's still a teenager with a lot of feelings he's trying to sort out! So...he is still kind of a rude, mean kid.
> 
> Also the second half of this chapter is because I am obsessed with the Omoi & Ameyuri filler from the war arc. I just loved it a lot and thought they were cute?! So he's the only age that is different in here--he's like late teens/early twenties?? And now that I know you also liked that episode, TheSlytherinSal, I hope you liked this scene!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading & all the nice things! <3


	11. Chapter 11

They woke all the genin up early the next day. Mangetsu and Haku made sure they had all of their supplies while Kisame and Ameyuri tried to get them all to eat breakfast. Then they walked the genin to the building where the first part of the exam was being held and watched them walk in. Kisame felt a swell of pride as he watched them go. They probably weren’t the most polished group of kids taking the exam, but he wouldn’t pick any other group to represent the new Mist Village. 

The first part of the exam only lasted an hour, so they were going to give the kids another pep talk before the second part which lasted three days. Some Leaf ninja who couldn’t stop coughing led them to the ‘Forest of Death’ where the second part was going to take place. Ameyuri thought the name was lame and uncreative and said so loudly. A couple of Leaf ninja glared at her for that, but he could see Omoi laughing nearby. 

Eventually Kisame saw a bunch of genin headed their way. He saw all of the Mist kids among the group and felt that swell of pride again. He also saw Sasuke and his team and wondered if Itachi was nearby. They waited until the proctor finished explaining this part of the exam before walking over to the kids. Their genin were excited to see them and all tried to describe the first part of the exam at once. Mangetsu got them to quiet down and gave them a pretty good pep talk. Even Suigetsu seemed motivated by his brother’s words, which rarely happened. Kisame noticed that Chōjūrō seemed to only get more nervous though as Mangetsu spoke, so he tugged the kid away from the group as the rest of the genin signed waivers. 

“Hey Chōjūrō, how do you feel?” The kid tried to smile at him, but it looked more like a grimace.

“I feel okay.” It didn’t sound believable at all. Kisame put a hand on his shoulder and saw his knees buckle.

“It’s okay to be nervous, kid.” Chōjūrō blushed. 

“But no one else is nervous.” His voice was quiet, and Kisame had to lean down to hear him.

“Sure they are. They’re just hiding it better.” Chōjūrō shook his head.

“They’re not and why would they be? Everyone’s a better ninja than I am.” He didn’t even sound sad, just resigned. 

“That’s not true.” Chōjūrō started to shake his head again, so Kisame gently squeezed his shoulder. The kid winced, so it probably wasn’t as gentle as it could’ve been. “You’re level-headed, skilled with a sword, and do you think Hiramekarei would let a bad ninja wield it?” Chōjūrō shook his head, and Kisame let him this time. “And Hiramekarei is almost as picky as Samehada, which definitely means you’re a good ninja kid. It’s okay to be nervous even if the others tease you for it.” The kid looked up at him hopefully.

“You don’t think I’ll slow them down?”

“No way. Honestly, I think Suigetsu and Nori would fail this without you.” He smiled at Chōjūrō, and Chōjūrō smiled back. “Now go sign your waiver before Mangetsu yells at me.”

“I will, thanks Kisame.” Chōjūrō went back to the rest of the group. Kisame would’ve followed him, but someone wrapped their arms around him from behind before he could move. He recognized Itachi’s chakra easily and relaxed into his arms.

“You’re good with your genin.” Itachi sounded impressed. Kisame felt the back of his neck grow hot at his words and he hoped Itachi didn’t notice. 

“I’m alright. Mangetsu’s a lot better with them.” Itachi tightened his hold.

“If you say so.” They watched all of the genin get their scrolls and get themselves into position. Chōjūrō waved over at Kisame before he did, but all of the other kids were too excited to pay them any attention. Sasuke didn’t look over either, and Kisame wondered if he even knew Itachi was there.

“Are you nervous about your brother participating?” Itachi tightened his hold again.

“Yes, but I didn’t tell him that. He didn’t really want to talk to me about the exam anyway.” They watched as they started letting the groups into the forest. “Are you nervous about your genin participating?” 

“No. I know they’ll all look out for each other in there.” Itachi hummed thoughtfully, and Kisame could feel it against his back. “How did your talk with your dad go yesterday?” Itachi groaned, and Kisame could feel that too. 

“He wanted to know why I was  _ fraternizing  _ with the Mist group and how exactly it was that I knew you.” Kisame brought his own hands up to hold Itachi’s and was struck at how much bigger they were than the other man’s.

“I see. What did you tell him?” 

“The truth for the most part. I may have forgotten to mention the most recent development between us, but I’m sure he’ll be able to figure that out on his own.” Kisame laughed, and Itachi pressed himself closer. “I have a few things I need to do for the Hokage today, but Shisui and I wanted to take you all out for barbeque later if you wanted?”

“Yeah, I’m sure everyone else would want to too.” It felt like Itachi was smiling against his back, but he couldn’t be sure. 

“Then I can come find you guys later. Goodbye Kisame.” Itachi tightened his hold one more time before disappearing completely. 

* * *

Ameyuri disappeared with Omoi shortly after they saw the last of the genin enter into the forest. Kisame hoped they were doing more normal things together and wouldn’t get them all kicked out of the Leaf Village. He kept an eye out for them just in case as he spent his own day exploring the village with Haku, Zabuza, and Mangetsu. They had some Leaf ninja following them throughout the day, but for once they were able to keep themselves out of trouble. It probably helped that Ameyuri and the kids weren’t with them. They bought a bunch of ugly souvenirs for Mei and Ao and talked about how they thought the genin were doing.

Eventually they were back at the inn and Kisame got to hear all about Haku’s dinner date the night before. He was glad that Naruto, the overly loud genin, hadn’t taken his fight with Haku as personally as Sasuke had. It seemed like Haku had genuinely enjoyed spending time with the kid. Zabuza was still grumbling about it, probably because he was afraid that this kid was going to make Haku cry too, but Kisame didn’t think it was going to happen. He hoped Haku would get another chance to hangout with Naruto before they had to go back home.

Ameyuri came back at some point with Omoi in tow. The guy seemed nervous to meet all of them, but as they got to know him better Kisame realized the guy was just nervous about everything. He also realized that Omoi was absolutely smitten with Ameyuri. She was just as smitten with him, but hid it better. If Kisame didn’t know her so well he probably would’ve missed it. But he did notice and thought it was cute. He still teased her for it though.

When Itachi and Shisui eventually came to get them, they found Ameyuri with one sword to Zabuza’s neck and one to Kisame’s with Omoi panicking on what he should do. “I’m sure he did something to deserve it, but I’d appreciate it if you spared Kisame.” She grinned over at Itachi.

“Of course cutie.” She winked as she dropped the sword from Kisame’s neck. She still kept the other sword on Zabuza. “What about Zabuza? Haku, what do you think?” 

“I like him alive.” Ameyuri sighed, but dropped that sword too.

“Alright, but you better let me know if you ever change your mind on that.” 

“Of course.” Haku smiled at her pleasantly as Zabuza grumbled. Itachi laughed and then he finally climbed into the room fully with Shisui. Everyone turned to look at Shisui at once and he blushed at the attention. Kisame, who knew how awkward it was just having people stare at you, smiled over at him.

“Hey Shisui. Sorry in advance for anything Zabuza might say.” Zabuza grumbled some more as Ameyuri laughed. “He’s the tall, mean-looking one.” He pointed over at Zabuza, who’s grumbling had turned into more audible threats. “The shrieking gremlin is Ameyuri.” She shrieked and tried to throw herself at Kisame, but Omoi held her back. “Omoi is the man currently protecting me from her.” He waved at Shisui. “Mangetsu is the one in the ugly shirt. And that’s Haku.” Mangetsu scowled at him as Haku waved to Shisui.

“Hi.” Shisui waved back and looked a little less awkward. Itachi threw Kisame a grateful smile. Ameyuri wiggled out of Omoi’s hold, walked over to Shisui, and looked him over. He looked awkward again.

“You know, the eyepatch is kind of doing it for me.” Shisui’s entire face turned red, and Kisame laughed before he could stop himself. Ameyuri winked at Shisui before walking back over to Omoi. “Now let’s go. I’m so fucking hungry.” She pulled Omoi out of the room and everyone followed. Kisame fell into step with Itachi and the other man grabbed his hand immediately. 

Dinner went well. No one had drawn swords or used any jutsus. There was some yelling, but that was a little unavoidable with their group. They talked about missions they had been on, jutsus they knew, and legendary swords. Everyone else at the restaurant had looked over at them frequently, but that wasn’t surprising. They were loud and looked strange and had two legendary Uchiha with them. A lot of the looks were also just at Kisame and Itachi, but that wasn’t surprising either. Kisame had an arm around Itachi’s shoulders and they were sitting so close that their sides were completely pressed up against each other. The looks didn’t bother him though, especially as he was more focused on the hand Itachi had kept on his leg all night. 

They said goodbye to Shisui at the restaurant, and Itachi came back to the inn with them. He followed Kisame up to his room and they closed the door before anyone else could follow them in. Then Kisame sat on the bed, pulled Itachi in close, and they kissed for a long time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder that Hiramekarei is the sword Mangetsu & Chōjūrō use!
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3


	12. Chapter 12

Itachi was busy again the next day, so Kisame spent a lot of it training with Zabazu and Mangetsu. Ameyuri disappeared somewhere with Omoi early in the day, and Haku decided that he would rather watch them train then join them. They didn’t go all out with each other, but still attracted an audience. Their audience included a loud Leaf ninja in green spandex with a bowl cut who asked to join them. Zabuza had laughed at the man, but let him join. He stopped laughing as the Leaf ninja kicked his ass with taijutsu alone.

The Leaf ninja, who eventually introduced himself as Gai the Leaf's Noble Green Beast, turned out to be a great sparring partner. He was probably the greatest taijutsu specialist Kisame had ever met and he also enjoyed a good fight. Gai was loud and strange, but Kisame was used to loud and strange. He also had a group of genin participating in the exams and gushed about them as he sparred. Kisame found himself liking Gai despite his weirdness. 

Training with Gai, Zabuza, and Mangetsu was fun, but it was also exhausting. Kisame had a ton of chakra, but they had sparred for almost the whole day. He also may have overdid it with the water bullets. Now he was laying on his bed feeling sore and trying not to fall asleep. “I heard you met Gai today.” Itachi was perched in the window wearing his anbu uniform.

“Yeah he’s a weird one.” Itachi laughed and climbed into the room. He walked over and looked down at Kisame. 

“Should I leave so you can sleep?” Kisame reached out, grabbed Itachi’s hand, and then pulled him down onto the bed.

“No.” He shifted so he could look at Itachi better. “I just need a few more minutes and then we can do whatever you want.” Itachi also shifted so he could run a hand through Kisame’s hair.

“ _ Whatever _ I want?” His tone was teasing and he was smiling mischievously. 

“Yeah Itachi.” He used the hand still in Kisame’s hair to bring him closer for a quick kiss. Then he shifted again so he was curled around Kisame.

They stayed like that for more than a few minutes. It was peaceful, and Kisame had almost fallen asleep. “Do you want to go swimming?” Itachi whispered it into his neck. Kisame could feel Itachi’s lips move against his neck with the question and also felt a heat low in his gut.

“Yeah.” His voice sounded lower than normal, and Itachi shifted closer. “Do you need to grab anything from your place first?”

“No.” He felt Itachi press a quick kiss against his neck and then the other man was pulling away. He got up from the bed and then pulled Kisame up too. He waited for Kisame to put his shoes on, but then he was immediately pulling at his hand again. Itachi pulled him out of the room, out of the inn, and through the village. 

Itachi didn’t drop Kisame’s hand until they were at some spot by the river. It was quiet and secluded. Itachi immediately kicked off his shoes and then started pulling off his anbu uniform. Kisame didn’t start on his own clothes yet as he was too busy watching Itachi. He removed each piece of his uniform slowly, folded it neatly, and then made a pile on the ground. His skin was pale which made the anbu tattoo on his shoulder stick out. Itachi took off everything except his boxers and then looked back over at Kisame. He frowned when he noticed that Kisame was still fully dressed. “Is this too much?” He gestured at himself as he asked.

“No.” Kisame’s voice was hoarse, and he swallowed loudly before saying anything else. “I was just distracted for a second.” Itachi’s mischievous smile from earlier was back as he walked over to Kisame. 

“Distracted by what?” Kisame felt himself blush, but also felt uncharacteristically confident. 

“By you. You’re beautiful Itachi.” Itachi blushed, and Kisame could see his whole chest get pink. Kisame then kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt over his head. He took off his pants and was just standing in his boxers too. He felt nervous as he looked back over at Itachi. He only felt more nervous as he noticed that Itachi had activated his sharingan. “Hey Itachi, why is your sharingan on?” His blush darkened.

“Is it?” His eyes faded back to their normal black and he moved closer to Kisame. He slid his hands onto Kisame’s hips just above his boxers. The touch felt so hot that Kisame was sure he’d had two burn marks in the shape of Itachi’s hands later. “Do you want to keep these on?” Itachi’s voice was even as asked, so Kisame couldn't tell what he hoped the answer would be. Kisame’s blood was thrumming and he was excited, but he was still nervous as he had never done anything like this before.

“Is it okay if we keep these on?” Itachi smiled up at him in response.

“Yeah, it’s okay.” He let go of Kisame’s hips, grabbed his hand, and led him over to the water. Kisame let go of his hand and immediately walked into the water. The river wasn’t too deep and the water wasn’t too cold. He looked over at Itachi who was still waiting on the riverbank. “Isn’t it cold?”

“Nah. The water back home is always much colder than this.” Itachi looked doubtful, but walked into the river too. He immediately wrapped his arms tight around his chest and glared at Kisame.

“It  _ is _ cold.” Kisame laughed and waded over to him.

“I’m sorry Itachi. It’ll get warmer once you start moving around.” Itachi looked like he didn’t believe him, so Kisame grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the deeper part of the river. Kisame could still stand with the water just about to his shoulders, but Itachi had to start treading water. It looked like he was warming up, so Kisame smiled at him. Itachi smiled back and kicked Kisame’s leg gently.

“Are you enjoying staying in the village?” 

“Yeah. It’s got some perks.” He pulled the elastic out of Itachi’s hair and watched it fall around his face. Itachi’s smile got a little wider, and Kisame was struck again by how beautiful he was. “I’m hoping at least one of our kids gets to the last round so we can stay a bit longer.” 

“Really?” Itachi’s voice was light and teasing. Kisame waded closer to him.

“Yeah. As much as I love fighting you, I kind of like this more.” Kisame actually meant it. He had always liked fighting against Itachi, but he liked kissing him more. And now he wasn’t sure he would be able to seriously fight against him if a mission ever called for it. 

“I do too.” Itachi wrapped his arms around Kisame’s neck and then wrapped his legs around Kisame’s waist. He wrapped his own arms around Itachi and pressed him closer. He felt like he was on fire everywhere they touched. “Is this okay?” Itachi sounded out of breath. Kisame thought again about how he  _ could _ be going home tomorrow if none of his genin made it through the second round. 

“Yeah, this is okay.” And then they were kissing. It was different than all of the kisses they had shared so far. This one was needy and deeper in a way that the other kisses hadn’t been. This one was because they both knew there was a chance Kisame would be leaving tomorrow and the next time they saw each other could be on opposite sides of a mission.

Itachi had a hand in Kisame’s hair and used it to change the angle of their kiss to something even deeper. It had Kisame groaning and trying to press Itachi even closer. The urgency of the kiss started to overwhelm him, and he ran his hands across Itachi’s back and sides as he felt like he needed to commit all of him to memory. Each shift of his hands had Itachi whimpering into the kiss and trying to press even closer. His grip on Kisame’s hair tightened as it felt like he was trying to devour Kisame through the kiss alone. 

“Kisame.” Itachi pulled back from the kiss only far enough to speak. Kisame could feel Itachi’s lips move with his name against his own. “Kisame...I need...” Itachi had activated his sharingan at some point, and Kisame didn’t feel nervous at all looking into it. 

“What do you need, Itachi?” 

“Can you…” Itachi sounded breathless and nervous. “Can you bite me?” Kisame grinned against Itachi’s lips and felt that uncharacteristic confidence again. 

“Oh, do you like my teeth Itachi?” 

“ _ Yes _ .  _ Please Kisame _ .” Kisame kissed him quickly and then pulled back far enough to look at Itachi’s neck. It wasn’t something he saw often, as Itachi always wore those high-collared shirts. It looked delicate. Kisame kissed Itachi’s pulse softly and could feel how fast the other man’s heart was beating. He kissed along the slope of his neck until he reached his shoulder. Then he bit down without any warning, and Itachi groaned loudly. He didn’t bite too hard, but there was some blood as he pulled away. His nervousness came back as it saw it.

“Are you okay Itachi?” Itachi answered by using the hand still in Kisame’s hair to pull him back into a kiss. This kiss was just as needy, and Kisame found himself falling into it. 

They only stopped kissing when the water had become too cold to stay in. They quickly climbed out of the river and helped each other put their clothes back on. Itachi’s lips were blue, so Kisame made him come inside when they were back at the inn. He then did his best to help Itachi dry his hair. 

As he looked at Itachi, Kisame thought again about how he might be going home tomorrow. The urgency from earlier was gone, but he still felt the need to make the most of his time with him. “Do you want to stay tonight?” Itachi looked up at him with a hint of a smile. “Just to sleep.” 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Kisame gave Itachi some of his own clothes to wear, as his were wet from the river. He didn’t watch Itachi change even though a large part of him wanted to, but felt as if he had anyway when he turned back around. His clothes were too big for Itachi and seeing him in them made a heat pool low in Kisame’s gut. They laid down on the bed together and then Kisame pulled Itachi in close. Itachi wrapped his arms around Kisame and then tucked his head into the space under Kisame’s chin. Kisame fell asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes. 


	13. Chapter 13

“Hey Kisame, don’t tell me you’re still--oh!” Kisame woke up at the sound of Mangetsu’s voice. He felt something shift against his chest and then remembered that Itachi had spent the night. His whole face felt hot when he realized what it probably looked like to Mangetsu. Then he felt confused as to why Mangetsu had even slid under his door.

“Why are you in here?” He felt Itachi shift again.

“Well the second part of the exam is pretty much finished and that coughing guy’s outside ready to take us all over to see who made it.” Kisame and Itachi both bolted up in bed.

“What?! What time is it?”

“Like three o’clock.” They scrambled out of bed and tried to get ready quickly. Kisame just kept whatever he had been sleeping in on and tried to both put on his shoes and find his headband at the same time. Itachi couldn’t find his own shirt so just kept Kisame’s on as he pulled on his pants from the day before. Kisame grabbed Samehada as Itachi put on his own shoes and grabbed his headband off the floor. Mangetsu watched them scramble with undisguised amusement. 

“Thanks for all your fucking help Mangetsu.” He laughed as he opened the door for them.

“You guys looked like you had it under control. Though you might want to switch headbands.” Kisame looked over and noticed that Itachi had just finished tying a Mist headband around his neck. He sighed before pulling what he thought was his own headband off and handing it to Itachi. Itachi blushed as he did the same thing. They rushed downstairs where the rest of the group was waiting. 

“Fucking finally. What the hell were you doing up there Kisame?” Zabuza then actually turned to look at them and his eyebrows shot up as soon as he saw Itachi.

“Not a single fucking word.” Zabuza looked like he was about to say many words, but then Haku was yanking him out of the inn. The rest of the group followed and were immediately met with annoyed looks from the jonin of the other villages. The coughing Leaf ninja also looked annoyed before he noticed Itachi with them, then his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Itachi’s blush darkened as he avoided the ninja’s eyes and tried to brush out the knots in his hair with just his fingers. 

The coughing man led them to a large building just outside of the Forest of Death. Some Leaf jonin and the proctor from earlier were waiting for them. She looked like had recently lost a fight, which made Kisame feel a little worried as to what she was about to tell them. “Listen up chumps, here’s which teams are advancing. Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, Team Baki, Team Kakashi.” Itachi sighed in relief. “Team Kabuto, Team Mangetsu.” Kisame also sighed in relief as Ameyuri whooped loudly. “Team Dosu and Team Gai.” Gai immediately erupted into tears and shouted something about the ‘power of youth’. “Everyone else failed, so get out.” Kisame did feel a sharp stab at disappointment that their other two teams didn’t make it, but his pride at the new generation of Swordsmen outweighed it. He saw Ameyuri head over to the Cloud jonin and comfort Omoi. 

“Where are the teams who didn’t pass?” The Grass jonin who asked sounded surly. 

“Over by gate 1. Genma will show you the way. Those with genin who passed can follow me.” Kisame, Mangetsu, and Zabuza all looked at each other trying to figure out who should go where. Haku tugged on Zabuza’s sleeve. 

“I’ll go get the two other teams. Suigetsu, Nori, and Chōjūrō would be disappointed if all of you weren’t in there.” Kisame could see Zabuza smiling at Haku through the bandages on his face.

“Thanks Haku.” Haku smiled at them all before following the group towards the genin who didn’t pass. Ameyuri walked back over to them as Omoi also followed that group. Then they followed the proctor into the building. Kakashi walked over and fell into step with Itachi, who was still with them. 

“Awfully big shirt you have on Itachi.” Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot at Kakashi’s teasing tone. 

“I’m trying a new look out.” Itachi’s tone was friendly and polite.

“Are you sure about it? It doesn’t really flatter you.” He saw Itachi clench his jaw. 

“Yeah, I am.” Kisame felt that warmth in his chest at the certainty in Itachi’s voice. Kakashi looked him over once and then smiled through the mask. Itachi relaxed slightly, so Kisame assumed it was a genuine smile. 

“Okay then.” 

The room they entered was large and kind of looked like a miniature stadium. The Hokage was inside waiting along with a few Leaf ninja. Kisame noticed Itachi’s dad among them and also noticed when he saw his son. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the exam proctor was shuffling them all into a line behind the Hokage. And then the genin were entering the room. 

Almost all of the teams looked pretty worse for wear. Suigetsu was covered in dirt, Nori’s hair was falling out of its braids, and Chōjūrō’s goggles were cracked. Sasuke was also covered in dirt and looked like he was in pain. Itachi looked like he wanted to go over to him, but he stayed where he was behind the Hokage. Samehada started to chirp excitedly, probably because of Naruto’s chakra, so Kisame tried to soothe it. Itachi’s dad turned to look at him at the noise, and Kisame avoided meeting his eyes.

The Leaf ninja who couldn’t stop coughing explained to everyone that they still needed to whittle down the group even further before the last part of the exam. He explained what the rules for the preliminary fights were and then randomly paired the genin up for their fights. Sasuke was up first against some other Leaf ninja. Itachi looked nervous, and Kisame wanted to comfort him. But his dad had already pulled him away and was frantically whispering something into his ear. Kisame followed the rest of the Swordsmen up to the platform overlooking the room. He tried to listen to the genin as they all tried to tell them about the last part of the exam at once. They all stopped talking as soon as Sasuke’s match started. 

Kisame had never seen Sasuke fight, but he could tell that something was wrong immediately. The kid didn’t activate his sharingan and at some point it looked like there was something creeping up the side of his neck. He won the fight, but then immediately clutched the side of his neck and fell to his knees in pain. His dad, Itachi, and Kakashi rushed down to him and then rushed him out of the room. The ninja who had proctored the second part of the exam whispered something to the Hokage, and then she rushed out of the room too. Kisame had a bad feeling, which got worse when he noticed that the jonin from the Sound Village was missing. He wasn’t sure if he should go after Itachi, but then Ameyuri was looking between him and the door pointedly. There were still a few matches before Suigetsu’s, so he took Ameyuri’s advice and left the room.

He found Itachi and Kakashi staring down the Sound ninja. Itachi had activated his sharingan and it was in the odd triangle shape that Kisame had only seen once before. He looked ready to kill the other man. The Sound ninja was smiling at them and it didn’t look pleasant. Kisame moved closer and then that unpleasant smile was turned towards him. “You’ve got your new guard dog trained well already, Itachi.” Kisame clenched his hands into fists and could see Itachi clench his jaw. 

“What do you want with my brother, Orochimaru?” The unpleasant smile grew. 

“I just want to help him reach his full potential. It must be difficult for him to do that while living in your shadow.” 

“And you were just planning to help him out of the goodness of your heart?” Kakashi’s tone showed how unlikely he thought that was.

“It would be for a price of course, as all things are. Though Sasuke doesn’t necessarily have to be the brother to pay it Itachi.” Kisame put a hand on Samehada’s handle and moved even closer.

“I think this conversation’s over.” Kisame gave Orochimaru his own unpleasant smile. “Don’t you Itachi?”

“I do.”

“Alright, but I’ll be seeing you again soon Itachi.” Orochimaru gave Itachi one last lingering look before walking past Kisame back into the room where the preliminary fights were taking place. Kisame walked over to Itachi as soon as the man was out of sight.

“Are you and Sasuke okay?” Itachi shook his head.

“Orochimaru attacked Sasuke in the forest and put some kind of seal on him. It’s interfering with his chakra. Father and Anko are binding the seal now, but I have a feeling Orochimaru has something worse in mind later. I just don’t know what though.” Itachi and Kakashi both looked worried. He knew that Itachi was also probably upset that he hadn’t been able to protect his brother from this. Kisame wished there was something he could do to help Sasuke. He did the only thing he could for now, which was to pull Itachi into a tight hug. Itachi hid his face in Kisame’s chest and held back just as tightly. 

“No one’s going to let him get anywhere close to your brother again, Itachi.” He made some kind of noise in response to Kisame, but it was hard to make out. Kakashi nodded in agreement with his words, which made Kisame feel more confident about them. 

After a few minutes, Itachi pulled away from the hold and looked up at Kisame. He still had his sharingan activated, but it was back to its normal pattern. “Thank you Kisame. I’m going to go check on Sasuke. Tell your genin I’m sorry I’ll miss their matches, but I wish them good luck.” 

“I will. Go keep Sasuke safe.” He kissed the top of Itachi’s head quickly and then went back into the main room with Kakashi. They both immediately looked over at Orochimaru who looked smug. Kisame couldn’t believe that he was still allowed to be there. He shook his head and walked back over to his group. Magnetsu shot him a questioning look, but Kisame just waved him off. He would tell everyone about it later.

He caught the end of the pink-haired genin’s fight with another Leaf ninja. It seemed like one of Ameyuri’s flirt fights and was surprised that they didn’t kiss at the end of it. Then it was Suigetsu’s turn. The kid was excited and jumped into the arena before the proctor even finished saying his name. His opponent was an older Leaf genin with glasses that Kisame didn’t recognize. Their fight didn't last long as Suigetsu used his weird water technique to dodge all of the ninja's attacks. Then he used his water gun jutsu as soon as he was close enough to the other ninja. The ninja dodged just enough so that Suigetsu didn’t blow his head off, but not enough to avoid it entirely. The force of it caused him to fall backwards and knock his head hard against the ground. Suigetsu grinned up at them as he was announced as the winner. Nori and Chōjūrō cheered for him loudly. 

Kisame didn't pay too much attention during the next few fights. They were interesting enough, but he was still worried about Itachi and his brother. None of the Uchiha had come back, and he hoped that didn't mean something else had happened to Sasuke. He kept his eye on Orochimaru, who kept smiling at him in that unpleasant way.

Eventually it was time for Nori and Chōjūrō’s fight. He wished they weren't fighting each other, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. They faced each other in the arena and neither one moved when the proctor called the start of the fight. Kisame was surprised as Nori never usually hesitated in a fight. She looked upset, and he wanted to know what had happened in the forest. "It's okay Nori." Chōjūrō smiled at her and then shifted into a standard sparring pose. "It's just like training." She shifted too, and then they were fighting. Neither one was fighting at full strength, but it was still a good fight. Nori ended up getting the upper hand and knocked Chōjūrō’s sword out of his hand. Chōjūrō then called the end of the fight before the proctor could. Nori helped him up and they both came back to the rest of the group. They congratulated both of them and watched the last two fights.

Samehada chirped excitedly as Gai's student faced one of the genin from the Sand Village. It gave Kisame a bad feeling. The bad feeling only got worse as he watched the fight. Gai's student was talented and Kisame was as shocked as everyone else when he dropped his leg weights, but the kid from the Sand Village was merciless. He was bloodthirsty in a way that reminded Kisame of the Bloody Mist. The fight seemed even enough at first, but then all of a sudden Gai was leaping into the arena to save his student's life.

Kisame's bad feeling stayed with him as they walked all of their genin back to the inn. It got worse as he listened to their stories about the second part of the exam. And worse still as he told the Swordsmen about Orochimaru and Sasuke. It felt like  _ something _ was about to happen, and Kisame was worried as to what the something was going to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a Naruto plot heavy chapter! Y'all have seen the chunin exams, so I don't go into too much detail with the things that actually happened. And I couldn't do them justice.
> 
> Orochimaru is in disguise, but I went back to look at all the chunin exams stuff as I wrote this and apparently they knew it was him anyway??? I have a lot of questions for the third Hokage. Also, I have Suigetsu fight Kabuto so the numbers were even.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!


	14. Chapter 14

The third part of the exam was happening in a month. All of their genin wanted to stay to help Suigetsu and Nori train for it, so their whole group was staying in the Leaf Village for that month. Kisame would’ve been excited about it if he wasn’t still so worried about Itachi and Sasuke. It had been two days since the preliminary fights, and he still hadn’t heard any news about the Uchiha brothers. He knew he probably didn’t need to worry about Itachi, but he did anyway.

Kisame woke up in alarm when he felt the bed start to dip under someone else’s weight. He quickly pulled a kunai out from under his pillow, yanked the intruder down, straddled them, and then held the kunai to their neck. Then he recognized Itachi who was looking up at him calmly. “Fuck. I’m sorry Itachi.” He dropped the kunai somewhere on the floor next to the bed and shifted so he was laying next to him. Itachi shifted too so they were looking at each other. He looked exhausted. “Is everything okay with Sasuke?”

“Yes. Kakashi’s already started training him for the last part of the exam. I don’t think he’s ready, but my father thinks I’m overreacting.” Itachi sounded annoyed. He shifted again so he could press himself against Kisame, who immediately wrapped his arms around him. “He thinks I’m too soft on Sasuke and maybe I am. But I just didn’t want him to have the same kind of life as I did.”

“I don’t think that means you’re too soft on the kid.” 

“Thanks Kisame. I’m sorry I woke you up.” Kisame started to run his fingers through Itachi’s hair and liked the way he leaned into the touch.

“It’s okay.” 

“I...I just wanted to see you.” Itachi’s cheeks were pink, and the back of Kisame’s neck felt hot. “But I can come back tomorrow so you can go back to sleep.” 

“You can stay if you want.”

“Just to sleep?” The way Itachi was looking at him made Kisame feel that warmth in his chest. He kissed Itachi’s forehead.

“Yeah, just to sleep. You look exhausted.” Itachi sighed and shifted even closer.

“I am. I haven’t slept since the last time I saw you.”

“Then get some sleep Itachi. I’ll still be here tomorrow.” Itachi kissed him gently, which caused Kisame’s heart to skip a beat. Then he pressed himself even closer and tucked his head into the space just under Kisame’s chin. “Goodnight Itachi.”

“Goodnight Kisame.” 

After a handful of minutes, Kisame felt Itachi’s breathing even out as he fell asleep. He stayed awake a bit longer just to look at him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short little chapter after everything that happened in the last one <3


	15. Chapter 15

Staying in the Leaf Village was weird. Kisame got to see Itachi more than he had expected, which was nice. But people still stared at their group wherever they went. Ameyuri and Zabuza took the looks personally, and it was almost a full time job keeping them out of trouble. Training with Suigetsu and Nori was also a lot of work and was only made more difficult as they refused to train together. Their first match in the third part of the exam was against each other, which caused them to fight more than usual.

The team from the Sand Village was also staying in the Leaf. The bad feeling Kisame had gotten from the kid with the gourd only got worse each time they ran into each other. Samehada also always got excited each time, which made him sure that the kid was a jinchūriki. He told that to Itachi who told that to the Hokage who didn’t seem to want to do anything about it. It made Kisame nervous, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. So he focused on training his genin, keeping an eye on the group from the Sand, and spending time with Itachi.

The more time he spent with Itachi, the more he liked him. He was easy to talk to, but also easily understood all the things Kisame  _ couldn't  _ talk about. They had a lot in common, but not so much that it was boring. He was fun to spar against, as always. But it was even better to fight  _ with  _ him when they'd spar against Zabuza and Haku. They fought together well, almost as if they had been training together for years. Kisame liked Itachi a lot and even kind of liked staying in the weird Leaf Village just because it made it easier to see him.

Kisame saw Itachi a lot more than he had expected to, but he did still get missions that took him out of the village sometimes. He was on one now somewhere in the Land of Tea that was probably going to take a few days. Kisame had kissed him for a long time at the village's gate before he left.

Itachi had only been gone for a day when his father approached Kisame. He hadn't seen the older Uchiha since the preliminaries, which was mainly because Itachi had been keeping them apart. Kisame immediately started to panic. He didn't know exactly what Itachi's dad wanted to talk to him about, but had a pretty good idea. Itachi and Kisame hadn't been very subtle about their feelings for each other. The older Uchiha looked at him sternly.

"Take a walk with me, Hoshigaki." He started to walk away without waiting for Kisame to respond. Kisame caught up and then fell into step with him. He felt like he should say something, but had no idea what to say. So they walked in silence for a few minutes. “I’ve heard some  _ concerning _ rumors about you and my son.” 

“Uh…” Kisame wished Itachi were there to handle this conversation. 

“I want you to be honest with me Hoshigaki.”

“Of course sir.” He looked over at Kisame briefly. 

“Do you know what rumors I’m referring to?”

“Uh…” Kisame knew some of the rumors, but wasn’t sure if they would be the same ones Itachi’s dad would hear. “I think so?” 

“Are they true?” Kisame’s panic grew worse as he recalled all the rumors he did know about.

“Actually, I haven’t heard any of the rumors.” Kisame’s voice was higher than normal, and he didn’t sound believable at all. Itachi’s dad stopped walking and turned to look at him. Kisame also stopped walking and looked at the other man’s chin just in case he had his sharingan activated.

“Are you involved with my son?” He looked and sounded stern, and Kisame felt his panic spike.

“Ah...yes?” He sighed, turned away from Kisame, and then kept walking. After a moment, Kisame followed. 

“When did this start?” Kisame thought about the first time Itachi kissed him, but then he thought about the first time they fought.

“A while ago.” He sighed again. 

“I see. Tell me, do you think you know my son well?” Kisame knew there was probably something he was missing with the question, but he answered it anyway.

“Yeah I think so.” The older man made some kind of noise that sounded like he didn’t agree with Kisame.

“Alright. Then do you understand just how important he is?” Kisame didn’t really understand the question, but he did understand the disapproving tone in which it was asked.

“I know that Itachi’s an excellent ninja.”

“He’s more than that. He has the kind of talent most ninjas can only dream of, and he’s the next head of the Uchiha Clan.” There was a sinking feeling in Kisame’s gut as he understood what the other man was trying to say. “He has a responsibility to his Clan and to his village. I’m sure that a Swordsman of the Mist can understand that.”

“I do.”

“Then I’m also sure you can understand what I’m trying to say here. Itachi already has a path to follow and you’re not on it. The best thing you could do would be to end your involvement with him.” The sinking in his gut grew heavier, and Kisame stopped walking. The other man stopped too. 

“What about what Itachi wants?” The other man scoffed.

“He’s too young to know what he wants.” Kisame felt a hot burst of anger as he remembered Itachi telling him about how his father had taken him to war when he was just four years old.

“But not too young to kill someone?” He scoffed again.

“He’s a ninja. I just want what’s best for my son and, to be blunt, that isn’t you. I’m sure you’d agree if you just thought about it for a moment.” Kisame  _ had _ thought about it before and for much longer than a moment. “I can’t stop you from seeing him, but I can make it even harder than it already is. Just think it over Hoshigaki.” Itachi’s dad walked away, and Kisame didn’t follow.

* * *

Kisame did think it over. He barely thought about anything else. It wasn’t like he had forgotten that Itachi was from a prestigious clan or that they were from different villages. But they hadn’t felt like such big things when the two of them were together. They felt like big things again though now that Kisame was alone.

Itachi’s father was right, and Kisame knew it. He had known it since he first started to have feelings for Itachi. They were from different villages, and Kisame was going to have to go back to his own once the exam was over. Then it was going to be hard for him to even get a chance to see Itachi. And Itachi wanted to be Hokage someday. There wasn’t anything Kisame could do to help him achieve that dream. Itachi’s father was right and it would probably be easiest for both of them if Kisame ended it now. But just the thought of doing that made him feel like there was a heavy weight on his chest.

* * *

Kisame woke up when he felt the bed start to dip, but recognized Itachi quickly as this wasn’t the first or even the fifth time he had done it. When Itachi noticed he was awake, he gave Kisame that small, soft smile that he loved. Usually it made Kisame feel weightless, but right now he felt a heavy weight in his chest as he remembered his conversation with Itachi’s dad. He pulled back slightly when Itachi went to kiss him. Itachi frowned and looked at him in concern. “Is everything okay Kisame?” 

“Yeah. I just….it’s…” Itachi went to grab his hand, but he pulled back from that too.

“Kisame?” Itachi’s voice was small and unsure in a way he had never heard before. He wanted to pull Itachi into his arms at the sound of it, but didn’t. The weight on his chest felt heavier.

“I’m sorry Itachi. I…” Kisame had thought about what he should say for days, but couldn’t remember any of it now that he was looking at Itachi. “I talked to your dad.” Itachi’s concerned look turned into one of confusion. 

“My father? About wha--” Itachi realized it all at once. “Oh Kisame. I’m sorry for whatever he said.”

“Don’t be Itachi. It’s not like he was wrong.” Itachi reached for his hand again and wouldn’t let Kisame pull away this time. His face has a determined intensity to it that caused Kisame’s heart to skip a beat.

“He  _ is _ wrong.” Kisame shook his head, but Itachi squeezed his hand hard. "He is."

"You don't even know what we talked about."

"I have a pretty good idea." Itachi shifted closer and put his other hand on Kisame's cheek. "My father's only ever seen me as a tool to better the Uchiha name. He doesn't know what's best for me."

"I'll admit he's done some pretty shitty things and tried to claim those as good for you. But I'm not sure he's wrong about me. You want to be Hokage, Itachi. What could I possibly do to help you with that?" Itachi let go of his hand just so he could hold Kisame's other cheek. He used both hands to tilt Kisame's head so they were looking each other in the eye.

"I'm not trying to gain status or power or anything like that by being with you. I want to be with you because I love you." Kisame felt himself blush and knew Itachi could feel it under his hands.

"Are you sure? It's not like we've known each other for a long time." Itachi gave him that soft smile again.

“Did you know that two ninjas can read each other's hearts without ever uttering a single word?” Kisame shook his head. “All it takes is a fight. I’ve seen your heart, and I fell in love with it. So, yes I’m sure. I love you Kisame.” Itachi leaned in to kiss him, and he didn’t pull away this time. Instead Kisame pulled him in close and kissed back. The kiss was quick, but Itachi didn’t pull away very far when it was over. Instead he rested his forehead against Kisame’s. “Like I said before, I’d respect your choice if you decided that all of this is too much for you. But I don’t want you to make your choice because of anything my father said. Okay?”

“Okay. I like you a lot, Itachi and I’ve liked getting to stay here with you. But I’m worried about what happens after I go back to my own village. Will we only see each other on missions? I don’t think I could seriously fight you after this.” Itachi laughed, but Kisame could tell he didn’t find it funny.

“I don’t think I could either. I know I’ve been spoiled having you here for the exam and I don’t know how I’m going to go back to sleeping alone.” This time Kisame laughed, and he saw Itachi’s cheeks go pink at the sound. “But I think we can make it work. I could come see you in your village. You know, if you’d want that.” Kisame imagined Itachi in his village and at his home and felt a warmth in his chest. He found a way to pull Itachi even closer. 

“Yeah, I’d want that.” Itachi smiled, but they were too close for Kisame to see it well. So instead he leaned in to kiss Itachi. This kiss lasted much longer than the last one. 

They stopped kissing sometime after they had laid down and become a tangle of limbs. Itachi was sprawled out over him, and Kisame could feel each heavy breath he took in his own chest. Kisame liked how it felt. “I’m sorry I panicked earlier, Itachi.” 

“It’s okay. I promise I won’t tell your friends.” Kisame laughed and held Itachi close.

“Thanks. For the record, I think we can make it work too.” He could feel Itachi smile against his chest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you know me you know I don't like Fugaku >:( he pressured his kids too much!!\
> 
> Thank you for all the incredibly kind comments!!! <3


	16. Chapter 16

The third part of the exam was only a few days away. Mei was supposed to be coming with the Kazekage sometime before the matches started. Suigetsu and Nori were both nervous, but too stubborn to say that they were. So instead they had been snapping at everyone and had been terrible to be around. The group from the Sand Village were still acting suspicious. And now Itachi was standing in front of Kisame saying, “My mother wanted me to invite you to dinner”. Kisame looked at him in disbelief.

“She wants to invite  _ me _ ?” 

“Yes.” Itachi took the dango Kisame had been holding and ate it. 

“What does your dad think about it?”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know about it yet.” Kisame hummed thoughtfully. 

"Do you think I should go?"

"Only if you want to." Kisame hummed again. "If it helps, my mother is much easier to talk to than my father." 

"That does help." He looked at Itachi and thought about how they were going to need all the help they could get to see each other after the exam was over. "Alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I survived a civil war. I should be able to survive dinner with your family too." Itachi laughed.

"Okay. I'll go let her know and then I'll come back later to pick you up." Itachi shifted onto his toes to give Kisame a quick kiss. "Goodbye Kisame."

"Bye Itachi."

Kisame started to panic as soon as Itachi was out of sight. He had no idea what he was supposed to talk about at dinner, didn't really have any nice clothes with him, and didn't know if he was supposed to bring something or not. He needed to talk to Haku.

Haku was helping train the genin, which was what Kisame was also supposed to be doing, but he figured that everyone else had it under control. He pulled Haku away from the group. "I need your help Haku." He looked up at Kisame in concern.

"What happened?"

“I’m having dinner with Itachi and his parents.” Haku blinked up at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Am I supposed to bring something? What am I supposed to talk about? Should I bring Samehada? What if--” Haku leaned up and covered Kisame’s mouth with his hands. 

“It’ll be okay Kisame. Now one question at a time. Did Itachi tell you to bring something?” Kisame shook his head. “Then you don’t have to, but you could bring sweets if you wanted to or something.” Kisame gently pulled Haku’s hands away from his mouth. 

“Itachi likes dango?” Haku smiled at him kindly.

“Then you could bring some for him. You probably shouldn’t bring Samehada though as it might look like you’re ready for a fight. Mangetsu can look over it.” Kisame nodded. “And you should just follow their lead with the conversation.” Kisame nodded again.

“Okay. But what if they don’t say anything?” 

“Then you can tell them some stories, just maybe not the extra bloody ones.” Haku still had that kind smile, so Kisame assumed that was meant as a joke. “It’ll be okay, Kisame. Itachi will be there too.” 

“Right. Thanks Haku. Sorry I panicked.”

“It’s okay. Now we should get back to the rest of the group before Zabuza comes looking for us.” Kisame laughed and followed Haku.

* * *

Kisame bought way too much dango and changed into the closest thing he had to a nice shirt. Everyone teased him as he waited for Itachi, but that was to be expected. He had gotten used to their teasing over the past few weeks though, so it was easy to ignore.

Eventually Itachi appeared on his windowsill. He looked Kisame over and smiled. “Ready?” 

“No.” Kisame smiled back. “But I don’t think I’d ever be ready, so let’s go.” He grabbed the box full of dango, and Itachi looked at it in interest. 

“Is that for me?”

“Technically it’s for everyone.” Itachi laughed and led Kisame out through the window.

This was the first time he had been in the Uchiha District since coming to the village. Itachi usually met him elsewhere, probably to help keep him away from his father. The clan’s crest was everywhere, and almost everyone they passed stopped to look at them. Itachi squeezed his hand reassuringly, but Kisame still felt nervous. He only felt more nervous as Itachi led him to a house.

No one met them at the door, which was a small relief. They kicked off their shoes and then Itachi kissed him quickly before pulling him further into the house. Sasuke and his father were in the room that they stopped in. Both looked up as they entered. They scowled almost in unison when they noticed Kisame. “Itachi, what is the meaning of this?” His father’s voice was stern and it reminded Kisame of the last time he saw the other man. He felt that heavy weight on his chest again, but then Itachi grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

“Kisame is going to join us for dinner. He brought some dango.” Kisame held the box up as he wasn’t sure what else he should do. 

“I don’t--”

“Oh good, you’re back, Itachi.” A woman who looked a lot like Itachi entered the room and smiled pleasantly at them. “You must be Kisame. I’m glad you could come.” Kisame smiled back.

“Thank you for inviting me.” Itachi’s father looked at her in disbelief. 

"Mikoto, what is going on?"

"I invited Kisame for dinner so I could meet him properly before the exam's over." Her voice was still pleasant, but it had a hint of steel to it that Kisame admired. "Itachi, I'm still finishing up dinner. Why don't you show Kisame around?" Itachi's father looked like he had something to say in response, but Itachi was already pulling him out of the room.

"We could sneak out if you wanted?" Itachi looked up at him as he asked, but Kisame shook his head.

"I'll be okay. I also want to talk to your mom more. She seems pretty cool." 

"Yeah, she can be."

Itachi led him through the house and pointed out some rooms as he did. Kisame tried to pay attention to him, but it was difficult. Itachi's family would get loud in the other room, but not loud enough for him to hear them clearly. He kept trying to listen though.

They ended up in Itachi's bedroom. His bedroom was tidy, which is what Kisame expected. There were some weapons and scrolls laying around, but even those looked organized. There were also a handful of pictures on his dresser. There were a few of Itachi and Sasuke throughout the years. Itachi's hair got longer and his stress lines became more pronounced as he aged in the pictures, while Sasuke just lost his baby fat. There was one of him and Shisui sometime before Shisui had lost an eye. And there was one of a young-looking Itachi with what he assumed was his genin team. Kisame hadn't seen any of the people in the picture around the village and had a pretty good idea as to why he hadn't. Itachi had never told him how he had awoken his sharingan, but did tell him how old he had been. If Kisame had to guess, he'd say that Itachi had awoken his sharingan the same year as when that picture had been taken. The thought twisted his heart painfully. He looked back over at Itachi.

Itachi's room reminded him of his own. Physically the only things they shared were four walls and some basic furniture. But standing in Itachi's room made him feel the same way as standing in his own always did. Even with all the personal things scattered around, it felt like no one really lived there and it made Kisame feel incredibly lonely. He now better understood what Itachi meant when he said he wasn't sure he'd be able to go back to sleeping alone. Kisame wasn't sure he'd be able to either. He dropped the box he was still holding onto Itachi's bed and then wrapped the other man into a tight hug. Itachi hugged back just as tightly without any hesitation. Kisame wondered if he had felt the same overwhelming wave of loneliness and wondered if he felt every time he was in the room. He held Itachi tighter at the thought.

Someone knocked loudly on the bedroom door. "Mom says dinner's ready." Itachi shifted slightly, but didn't move out of Kisame's arms. After a minute or two, Sasuke knocked loudly again. “Itachi?” Itachi sighed.

“We’ll be there in a second.” Sasuke knocked again in response.

“You better not be doing something gross in there.” Itachi sighed again and pulled away from Kisame this time. He walked over to the door, opened it, and stared down at Sasuke. Kisame grabbed the box of dango off the bed and followed him.

“Kissing isn’t gross.” Sasuke rolled his eyes. Itachi looked annoyed for a moment, but then he got a mischievous look. “Well, maybe kissing  _ Naruto  _ is gross.” Sasuke started sputtering as his face turned completely red. Itachi walked past him, and Kisame followed. 

“I didn’t know your brother was dating Naruto.” Sasuke caught up to them quickly.

“I am not! That kiss was an accident!” Itachi’s smile was still mischievous as he looked down at his brother.

“How do you kiss someone by accident?” Kisame laughed as Sasuke sputtered again. Then he scowled up at both of them before running off into a different room. They followed him at a more normal pace. 

Kisame felt nervous again as he entered the dining room. Itachi’s dad was scowling over

at him, but his mom was smiling at him pleasantly. “I heard you brought dango?” She looked at the box in his hand as she asked. 

“Yeah. I hope that was okay?” Her smile somehow got even kinder. 

“It’s very thoughtful of you. Though I hope Itachi didn’t tell you that dango was the only thing you could bring.” Kisame laughed as he saw Itachi blush. 

“He didn’t.” She was still smiling as she took the dango from him and walked it into the kitchen. Itachi pulled Kisame to two open spots at the table and they sat down. Itachi’s dad’s scowl got worse as they got closer, but he didn’t say anything. None of them said anything as they waited for Itachi’s mom to come back. 

It stayed quiet after she came back as they all started to eat right away. The food was good, and it helped to put Kisame at ease. Itachi’s hand on his knee also helped. But eventually Itachi’s mom turned to him in interest. “So Kisame, Itachi has been very secretive as to how you two met. And I’ll admit I’ve been very curious.” Now Sasuke and Itachi’s father were also looking at him in interest. He looked over to Itachi. Itachi dipped his head only slightly, but Kisame knew that meant he could tell them. 

“We met on a mission.” Kisame smiled to himself as he remembered it. “We had both been sent to retrieve the same scroll.” 

“And there wasn’t a fight?” His father’s voice was heavy with disbelief. 

“There was. It was a pretty good one too.” Kisame could see Itachi smile out of the corner of his eye. “We ran into each other a few more times after that on different missions.” 

“I see.” Itachi’s mom was looking at them thoughtfully.

“So you’re the reason my son has failed some missions?” The older man’s tone was stern and disapproving, and Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot at it. He saw Itachi clench his jaw.

“Father, if I failed any missions it wasn’t because of Kisame.” The older man scoffed.

“Yeah right. I wouldn’t be surprised if the real goal of this whole thing was to cause the Leaf to fail missions. Or, better yet, so the Mist could get their hands on a sharingan.” Kisame heard everything he said perfectly, but didn’t understand any of it. Itachi didn’t seem to have that problem though.

“You’re being ridiculous.” His father scoffed again.

“Itachi’s moving to the Mist?!” Sasuke was looking between Itachi and his father in a panic. Kisame wasn’t even sure how the kid had even come to that conclusion. Itachi’s mom slammed both of her hands onto the table hard.

“We are going to talk about this more later Fugaku, but for now stop talking. And Sasuke, Itachi isn’t going anywhere right now, but if he does want to move to the Mist then that’s his decision.” Both Sasuke and Itachi’s dad opened their mouths to say something else, but she just looked at them sharply. They shut their mouths in unison. “Now Kisame--” He turned to look at her nervously. “--how have you liked staying in the village?” She smiled at him kindly.

“It’s been great. It’s much warmer here than back home and everyone’s been very friendly.” He saw Itachi hide a smile in response to his answer.

The rest of dinner went well. Itachi’s dad hadn’t said much else, mostly due to the sharp glares Itachi’s mom would throw him. Kisame answered more questions from her with Itachi chiming in every so often. After a while Sasuke started to talk about his upcoming fight for the exam. He tried to ask Itachi for advice without doing it outright and it reminded Kisame of Suigetsu. Dinner with Itachi’s family ended up actually being kind of nice.

Itachi came back to the inn with him afterwards. He pulled on one of Kisame’s shirts and climbed into bed with him. After Kisame wrapped his arms around Itachi, he tucked his head in the space under Kisame’s chin. “You know, I  _ could _ move to the Mist.” Kisame laughed and held Itachi tighter.

“You could. Or I could move here. Though we should probably give it more time before either of us moved anywhere.” Itachi hummed thoughtfully, and Kisame could feel it against his chest. Without meaning to, Kisame thought about what it would be like if Itachi did move to the Mist. 


	17. Chapter 17

It was finally the day of the last part of the exam. Kisame felt nervous as if he were one of the genin participating and he knew that Itachi felt nervous too. Itachi had left bed early that morning, stealing one of Kisame’s shirts and a long lingering kiss before he slipped out the window. He was going to be leading the squad of anbu watching over the Hokage during the exam. He had the same feeling as Kisame that something big was going to happen and wanted to do everything he could to prevent it.

The Swordsmen spent the morning trying to get Suigetsu and Nori ready. They filled their shuriken pouches, practiced hand signs with them, and reminded them to try and not actually hurt each other too much later. Mangetsu tried to get them to both eat breakfast as Nori tried to get Kisame to braid her hair. She insisted that he was the only one who could braid it the way she liked. Once they were fed and her hair was braided, Zabuza forced them both into the ugly camouflage he liked and then the whole group was rushing out of the inn. 

They waited at the village gates as Mei was supposed to be there soon. Kisame would’ve expected the group from the Sand to also be waiting with them for their Kazekage, but they weren’t. It made the bad feeling from the preliminaries return, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. All of the genin got antsy as they waited and started fidgeting. Haku tried to calm them down, but they only stopped when Ameyuri shocked a few of them with a small lighting jutsu. 

Eventually they could see Mei in the distance with the Kazekage. She rushed over as soon as she caught sight of them and the genin all swarmed around her. They all tried talking to her at once, and she smiled at them widely even though there was no possible way she could have understood what any of them were saying. When the genin finished talking, Mei patted Suigetsu and Nori on the top of their heads. “I am proud of all of you. You’ve represented the Mist well, and I’m excited to see you show them all how it’s done today.” Suigetsu and Nori grinned up at her with their sharp smiles. Then she turned her gaze to the Swordsmen. She looked at each one of them and then frowned. “Hey, where’s Kisame’s cute boyfriend?” Ameyuri let out a shriek of laughter, and Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot.

“What, we’re not cute enough for you?” Zabuza actually sounded offended.

“No.” Mei didn’t even hesitate with her answer. She pushed past them and started walking towards the oncoming Hokage. The Hokage looked alone, but Kisame could sense the chakra of a handful anbu nearby. He could recognize Itachi’s chakra among them. 

“Welcome to the Leaf Lady Mizukage and Lord Kazekage.” He bowed his head slightly. Mei bowed back as did the Kazekage, who Kisame hadn’t even noticed had caught up to them.

“Thanks for having us Lord Hokage.” Mei smiled at him widely. “I hope my group didn’t cause too much trouble around your village.” The Hokage smiled back at her.

“They’ve been perfect guests.” Kisame covered up his laugh with a fake-sounding cough as Mei gave him a sharp look. “I was actually quite excited that the Mist had sent some teams this year.” 

“Well you know, now that things have settled down back home, we’re hoping to improve our relationship with some of the other villages. I would love to talk to you more about an alliance between the Mist and the Leaf. If you were interested that is.” The Hokage chuckled.

“I think an alliance with the Mist would be of great benefit to us and would be delighted to talk about it further after the exam.” Mei’s smile somehow grew wider. “I have some final preparations to take care of for the exam, so one of my anbu will take you to the stadium.” An anbu appeared in front of Mei out of seemingly nowhere. Kisame recognized Itachi easily. Itachi bowed his head to Mei and then to the Kazekage. 

“Welcome to the Leaf Lord Kazekage and Lady Mizukage.” The Hokage patted Itachi on the shoulder.

“Itachi can answer any questions you might have.” He turned and walked away from them. Mei perked up at Itachi’s name.

“Itachi? As in Kisame’s cute boyfriend Itachi?” Kisame felt his entire face get hot as Ameyuri and Zabuza laughed loudly. He could also hear Itachi laugh.

“Yes, that Itachi. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Mizukage.” Itachi removed his mask and smiled at her.

“Oh you  _ are  _ cute. And please, call me Mei.” 

“Of course Mei. Please follow me to the stadium.” Itachi turned, and Kisame watched his ponytail sway with the motion. Mei winked at Kisame, turned, and then linked her arm with Itachi’s. 

“In case Kisame hasn’t mentioned it yet, you’re more than welcome to come visit the Mist sometime. Or you know, move to the Mist if you wanted.” Mei’s voice was light and teasing, and Kisame’s face felt even hotter.

“Oh Kisame’s mentioned it.” Itachi turned and winked at him after he said it. Ameyuri let out another shriek of laughter. Kisame’s face still felt hot and he felt embarrassed, but he also felt a warmth in his chest. 

Mei and Itachi talked about more embarrassing things as they walked to the stadium. But Kisame couldn’t focus on it too much as Suigetsu and Nori were asking him and the rest of the Swordsmen a bunch of last minute questions. They were now more clearly nervous, but, with the tension in the air, Kisame assumed most people were nervous. Itachi left them after he had shown each of them where they needed to be. He squeezed Kisame’s hand once before disappearing. 

Kisame was in the stands with Zabuza, Haku, and their genin who weren’t fighting. Ameyuri and Mangetsu were with Mei and the other Kages. And Suigetsu and Nori were with the other participants. They were all waiting anxiously for the start of the exam. Suigetsu and Nori were the fourth fight, so they still had a while more to wait for their fight. Kisame’s anxiety grew as the stadium filled. 

Haku’s friend Naruto was up first, and it was a pretty interesting fight to watch. The kid was a bit weird and didn’t know when to give up, but that seemed to work for him. Haku cheered loudly when Naruto was announced as the winner. The second fight was one of the other Leaf genin against one of the Sand genin. It was strategized well, which meant it was pretty boring to watch. And then the third fight was Sasuke against the Sand’s jinchūriki. Kisame knew Itachi was nervous about this fight, and he kind of was too. 

The fight started off normal enough, though they were both using high-level techniques that were probably a bit too dangerous to teach to genin. But then the Sand genin encased himself in a ball of sand, and Kisame got a bad feeling. The bad feeling got worse when he noticed that someone had cast a powerful genjutsu over the stadium. Kisame avoided getting trapped in it and noticed that Haku and Zabuza were fine as well. But all of their genin fell into a deep genjutsu-related sleep. That ended up being the safest place for them though, as the stadium was also suddenly being swarmed by Sound ninja. The ninjas came from seemingly nowhere and immediately started attacking anyone not trapped in the genjutsu. Kisame and Zabuza pulled their swords off of their backs and Haku pulled out some senbon.

“Kisame, go check on Mei and the others. Haku and I can handle the guys over here.” Zabuza punctuated his order with a swing of Kubikiribōchō, which took off the head of a few Sound ninjas. Kisame didn’t wait for him to say anything else. He rushed over to where the Kage were and was just in time to see a large barrier go up.

“Fuck.” He could see Mei and the Hokage inside of the barrier with a man he didn’t recognize. The man’s chakra was familiar though and it gave Kisame a bad feeling. He found Mangetsu and Ameyuri fighting a few Sound ninja and rushed over to give them a hand. Between the three of them, it only took a few minutes to end the fight. 

“Where are Zabuza and Haku?” Mangetsu sounded worried. 

"They're in the stands over by the genin taking out Sound ninja." Mangetsu nodded once.

"Good. Ameyuri and I are going to try to get into the barrier. The Sand jinchūriki left the stadium with some Leaf genin in pursuit. Follow them and drain the kid's chakra with Samehada." He looked down at the arena and panicked when he didn't see Sasuke. 

"Fuck. Get her out of there." And then Kisame was running from the stadium. 

It was easy to follow them. They left a huge trail through the forest, and Kisame was worried that the kid had already went into tailed-beast form. He passed by the kid from the second fight and one of the Leaf jonin. They were fighting some Sound ninja and it looked like they had it under control, so Kisame kept going. Then he saw the creepy bug genin from the Leaf fighting the creepy puppet genin from the Sand. Kisame stopped and then hesitated as he wasn't sure if he should join the fight or not. Both genin turned to look at him and said "I have this under control" in unison, so Kisame left.

Kisame started to hear the sounds of fighting, deranged laughter, and saw the Sand genin with the giant fan cowering behind a tree terrified. So he assumed that he found the jinchūriki. He pulled Samehada off his back and unwrapped it from its bandages as he got closer. It was chirping almost nonstop as it could feel the chakra of two jinchūriki nearby. 

He found the pink-haired genin hopefully just unconscious on a large tree branch, Sasuke sitting in pain near her, a dog with a Leaf headband, a brightly-colored toad, and a half-transformed jinchūriki. Then Kisame saw Naruto, who was yelling and leaping at the jinchūriki. The Sand kid was ready for him and had a feral kind of smile that gave Kisame a bad feeling. He rushed in between them, grabbed Naruto, and blocked the jinchūriki’s blow with Samehada. The sword made an excited-kind of chirp at the contact and was probably already draining chakra from the kid. Kisame disengaged, dropped down on a branch near Sasuke, and then let go of Naruto.

“What the hell sharkman!? I was about to beat him, believe it!” Kisame rolled his eyes and then shifted himself between Naruto and the jinchūriki, who was now snarling at them. 

“You weren’t, kid. This opponent is on a whole other level than you.” 

“HEY--” Kisame jumped off the branch and back towards the jinchūriki before Naruto could say anything else. The kid leaped at him at the same time and met Samehada with one of his transformed fists. It was a heavy blow and almost knocked Kisame back. Samehada started to grow with the chakra it was absorbing, and the jinchūriki’s snarling got worse. Kisame kicked the kid back a bit and swung at him again with Samehada. As the kid was unprepared, the hit knocked him down hard. Kisame grinned to himself as branches broke when the kid slammed into them. He followed and knocked the kid down further with another swing. This caused the kid to plummet to the ground and create a small crater. Kisame followed him down.

Kisame quickly put a foot on the kid’s chest to hold him down and then pressed Samehada against his side. The kid clawed at his leg trying to get it off. It hurt like hell, but Kisame didn’t move. Naruto jumped down to the ground with the toad on his head and looked over at them curiously. “What are you doing to him?”

“Draining his chakra.” Samehada chirped happily and continued to grow.

"Why?" Kisame looked down at the kid and wondered if he knew what a jinchūriki was or even that he was one.

"Because he's...well you see….do you know what tailed beasts are?" Naruto nodded and the toad clutched his hair tightly so as not to fall off. "Okay…..do you know that sometimes these beasts are put into people?" He nodded again, but this time with a troubled look. Kisame was sure that meant he knew he was a jinchūriki and felt bad for the kid. "Well this kid has one inside him, and I'm trying to stop it from coming out."

"Does having a tailed beast in you make you evil?" The kid sounded both upset and angry, and it tugged at Kisame's heart. It also made him wonder how the Leaf treated their jinchūriki. 

"Not at all kid." The clawing at his leg finally stopped as the Sand jinchūriki lost enough chakra to start to transform back. Kisame's leg was bleeding badly, but he'd be able to heal it with Samehada soon enough.

"Wait, are you going to kill him!?"

"No, I'm just gonna knock him out." The Sand jinchūriki glared up at him weakly, and Naruto moved closer to look down at the other kid.

"Your sword is weird." Naruto reached out to touch Samehada, but Kisame grabbed his hand before he could.

"It is weird and it'll drain your chakra too, so don't touch it." Naruto huffed, pulled his hand out of Kisame's grip, and then crossed his arms.

"You know this is so boring to watch." The toad nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but it's the safest way to do this." Naruto huffed again.

"You sound just like Itachi." The kid's tone was derisive, so Kisame knew he didn't mean it as a compliment, but he took it as one anyway. "This is the  _ lamest _ way to do this." The Sand jinchūriki finally closed his eyes and passed out. Kisame took his foot off the kid, pulled Samehada away, and grinned at Naruto.

"Maybe, but it's all over now."

As soon as Kisame finished speaking, the Sand jinchūriki started twitching. Naruto kicked him and then he was transforming into his tailed beast state all at once. Kisame grabbed Naruto and then leapt to a high branch as the tailed beast grew to his full size. The toad was screaming and Samehada was chirping loudly as he jumped. “What did you do to him!?" Naruto sounded as panicked as Kisame felt.

"Nothing! He's supposed to be out cold." 

"What do we do?!" Kisame looked up at the tailed beast, who was already starting to destroy the surrounding forest and wished that Mangetsu was there. 

"I have no idea. Knock him out again?" Naruto looked over at the tailed beast.

"I think I have an idea." Naruto bit his thumb, quickly made some hand signs, and then slammed his hand onto the branch they were standing on. The toad leapt off Naurto’s head quickly and over to where Sasuke still was. The branch broke as did all of the ones below it as they were suddenly standing on something huge. Kisame’s stance was unsteady as the thing they were standing on was breathing. 

“Why did you summon me, brat?” Kisame’s stance got even more unsteady as it spoke. 

“Chief Toad we need your help to beat up a tailed beast!!” Naruto shouted it loudly, presumably so Chief Toad could hear him better, but he was basically just screaming into Kisame’s ear.

“What?! Which one?” Kisame almost fell over when the toad turned quickly to get a look at the tailed beast. “Shukaku.” The name didn’t mean anything to Kisame, and it looked like it didn’t mean anything to Naruto either. 

“Eh?” Naruto screamed it into Kisame’s ear again. 

“That’s who that is brat. If he’s here, that means his host is asleep.” Naruto glared up at Kisame, who did feel a bit embarrassed at accidentally causing this.

“I didn’t know knocking the kid out would do this! That’s not how the three-tails works.” 

“It’s only how Shukaku works. He takes over his host when they’re asleep, so most of them don’t sleep.” That explained the deep bags the Sand genin had under his eyes. “You’ll need to wake him up brat.” 

“Alright!” Naruto clapped his hands together loudly as he shouted. “Get us over there Chief!” The toad stayed where he was.

“No way. I don’t want to get mixed up with a tailed beast.” Naruto stomped his foot hard, and Kisame wondered if Chief Toad could even feel it. 

“How else are we going to get over there!? He’s huge!” The toad grumbled and it felt weird under Kisame’s feet. 

“Fine. Hang on brat.” Kisame had less than a second to force some chakra into his feet before the toad started moving. The toad took a giant leap and then they were suddenly much closer to Shukaku. Up close Kisame could see the Sand genin half-submerged in Shukaku’s forehead. They weren’t close enough for him to see if the kid was asleep or not though. “Now go wake him up.” 

“What?! Get us closer!” Naruto shouted it into his ear, and Kisame was starting to get a pain in his head worse than the one in his leg.

“I can jump over.” Kisame wasn’t actually sure he could make that jump, but he was willing to try. 

“Hell yeah sharkman!” Naruto looked way too excited for a fight against a tailed beast, but Kisame guessed he was kind of excited too. He strapped Samehada onto his back, walked as far back on the toad’s head as he could, and then ran. He jumped at the last possible moment. And it actually looked like he was going to make it.

Shukaku swatted Kisame away like he wasn’t any bigger than a bug. It hurt like hell and sent him flying. He probably would’ve flown right into the Hokage Mountain if something hadn’t caught him. The something that caught him was a skeletal hand made entirely from chakra, which wasn't something he had ever seen before. He looked down at the skeletal arm attached to the skeletal hand and saw Itachi. He looked a bit scuffed up, but Kisame couldn't see any obvious injuries on him. He also looked incredibly worried, probably for Sasuke. "Thanks Itachi. Sasuke's okay." Itachi's posture relaxed slightly as some tension left him. 

"What happened?" Kisame felt embarrassed again at accidentally being the cause of the current problem with the tailed beast. He was going to need to find a way to frame it so that it was Mangetsu's fault. 

"I'll tell you later. We need to get back over there quickly." Kisame looked at the skeletal hand still holding him and got an idea. "Hey, do you think you could throw me with this thing?" Itachi also looked at the skeletal hand.

"I think I could, but are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Nope." Kisame grinned widely at Itachi. After a moment Itachi gave his own small smile back.

"Alright. I hope you're ready." The skeletal arm pulled back, then quickly launched forward, and tossed Kisame. He was sent flying again, but this time at a more controlled speed. Itachi threw him right towards Shukaku and Chief Toad. But Naruto must've convinced the toad to do something because suddenly he was grappling with Shukaku. Kisame was worried that Naruto was about to do something reckless. 

Kisame was almost there when he saw Shukaku disappear. He hoped that meant Naruto had been able to wake the kid up and not that something even worse had happened. Kisame adjusted his trajectory a bit so that he could land in a nearby tree. Then he quickly dropped to the ground and ran to where Shukaku had been. He found both jinchūriki laying on the ground. Naruto was saying something passionately and it seemed like he actually had it under control. Kisame hung back in case Naruto did need him to jump in. 

The two other Sand genin appeared in the clearing. They looked down at their teammate in concern. "Gaara!" The girl with the fan rushed over to him and pulled him off the ground. The creepy puppet kid rushed over too so they could support Gaara between them. Then they were both looking over at Kisame in concern. After a long moment he realized they were concerned that was going to stop them from leaving. Maybe Kisame should’ve been trying to stop them, but it wasn’t his village and it didn’t look like Naruto cared. Besides, Gaara had a look on his face like he just figured out something incredibly important, so Kisame had a pretty good feeling that they weren’t going to cause any more trouble. 

“Get out of here. Just make sure he’s not going to transform again or anything, okay?” The puppet kid looked skeptical, but the girl didn’t wait for him to change his mind. She nodded once and then dragged her teammates away. 

Kisame walked over to Naruto when they were gone and looked down at the kid. He was still conscious and had a lot of blood on his forehead, but looked satisfied. Kisame hadn’t really been paying attention to what the kid had been saying, but he assumed it whatever it was had been inspirational. “You okay kid?” 

“Yeah. Can you help me stand up?” Kisame reached down and pulled Naruto up. His legs buckled as soon as Kisame let go, so he caught Naruto before he fell. Kisame then tossed Naruto over his shoulder.

“HEY! Can’t you hold me any better?!” 

“No.” He leapt into the nearest tree with Naruto still on his shoulder. He started to head in the direction of Sasuke when Naruto started to thrash around.

“WAIT! We need to say goodbye to Chief Toad.” Kisame sighed and then looked up at the toad. He then started to climb the tree until they were at the top and could see the toad better. “GOODBYE CHIEF TOAD! THANK YOU!” Kisame’s ear was ringing as Naruto was yelling pretty much right into it. 

“Goodbye brat. Try to stay out of trouble.” And then the toad was gone, and Naruto let him head to where Sasuke was.

Itachi was looking Sasuke over when they got there. The pink-haired genin was still unconscious and the dog and smaller toad were looking over her. Itachi and Sasuke looked over in unison when they got there. “Did dad go back home?” The toad hopped over them as he asked. 

“Yeah Gamakichi." Are you gonna leave too?”

“Yup. Bye Naruto.” That toad disappeared too. 

“Where’s Gaara?” Sasuke’s voice sounded tight with pain and anger. Itachi was frowning worriedly at him. 

“He’s gone. How’s Sakura?” Naruto sounded worried. They all waited for Sasuke to respond, but when he didn’t the dog looked over at them.

“She’ll be okay.” The dog looked back at Sakura after he finished speaking. 

“We need to take them back so a medical ninja can look after them.” Itachi sounded as worried as he looked. “Sasuke I can carry--”

“I can walk. You carry Sakura.” Itachi’s frown got worse, but he didn’t argue. Instead he went over to Sakura and picked her up gently. Sasuke took off in the direction of the village without waiting for them. Itachi sighed and looked down at the dog.

“Pakkun, can you catch up to Sasuke and keep an eye on him?”

“Yeah Itachi.” And then the dog was running off too. Kisame adjusted Naruto so he was easier to hold and then he met Itachi’s eyes briefly. It was just a quick glance, but it was long enough from them to notice that the other was okay. Then they followed Sasuke at a slower pace. They were quiet and focused on carrying the kids as they made their way back to the village. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sword reminder! Kubikiribōchō is Zabuza's sword.
> 
> And here's the end of chunin exam!! It pretty much happens exactly as it does in canon with some small changes to account for all the people who are here who weren't in the show. Naruto talking to Gaara is so good and important to me, so that is 100% the exact same so Gaara gets his redemption. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	18. Chapter 18

The village was partially destroyed when they got back. Buildings were crushed, there were some small fires that Kisame could see, but it seemed like the fighting was over. They caught back up to Sasuke and Pakkun just outside of the village. Sasuke looked winded and like he was in pain, but he refused Itachi’s offer again to be carried. The group of them made their way to the hospital. 

The hospital was crowded, but took all the kids without any problem. Itachi stayed with them and tried to get Kisame to stay too to get his leg checked out. But Kisame needed to check on Mei and the rest of the Mist group. Kisame squeezed Itachi’s hand tightly once before he left for the stadium. 

Kisame passed a lot of dead Sand and Sound ninja as he walked through the village. He also passed some injured Leaf ninja, but no one looked too bad. Most people were also headed back to the stadium. The barrier he had seen earlier was gone, so he assumed everyone was going to check on their Hokage. No one seemed panicked, but that bad feeling was still in his gut. Kisame started to move towards the stadium faster. 

The stadium was full, but there was a hush over the crowd. Kisame tried to look for Mei while also trying not to panic. He found Ameyuri first. She looked scratched up and some of her hair looked singed, but overall she looked fine. “Ameyuri, is everyone else okay?” 

“Everyone from our group is fine. A little banged up, but fine.” She grabbed his hand and started tugging him somewhere. Her grip was a lot gentler than it’d be normally. “But...uh...well the Hokage didn’t make it.” It took Kisame a long moment to understand what she had meant. Then the hush over the crowd made sense. Ameyuri pulled him over to the rest of their group, and they did look mostly fine. Mei looked the worst, mostly because of the look of utter defeat on her face. Haku was doing his best to comfort her, but a lot of Leaf ninja were also asking her a lot of questions at once.

Eventually everyone told everyone else exactly what they had been doing during the fighting. Mei told them how the Hokage had used the Death Reaper Seal to prevent Orochimaru from ever reanimating the previous Hokages again at the cost of his own life. Kisame told them what had happened with the Sand jinchūriki. Mangetsu, Zabuza, and Ameyuri talked about their fights with the Sound ninjas. Some Leaf ninjas listened to them and interrupted with questions every so often. Once everyone was done and all the questions were answered, the Leaf ninjas left them to themselves. Zabuza looked around at everyone. "So...what do we do now?" Mei sighed before she answered.

"After they have time to let everyone know and grieve, I want to offer our help to whoever will be in charge until they pick their next Hokage."

"What if they don't want our help?" 

"Then I guess we'll leave." Mei sighed again after she spoke. "For now we can help with the clean up." 

"Fuck that. We helped them with all the fighting. They can do their own cleanup." Zabuza crossed his arms after he finished speaking, like that meant his word was final or something.

"Zabuza." Haku put a hand on Zabuza's arm and looked up at him in that stern, but kind way that he had mastered. "They were just attacked, a lot of Leaf ninjas died, and they just lost their Hokage. The least we could do is help with cleanup." Zabuza looked at Haku for a long time before sighing. 

"Fine whatever." Haku gave him a wide smile. 

They split up and helped wherever they were needed. The Leaf ninja seemed grateful to see Kisame throughout the day, which was very different than how they treated him before. But he wasn't complaining. He was just glad that they didn't seem to think that the Mist had also been in on the attack. The Leaf was weird and it wasn't his home, but it was Itachi's.

* * *

They didn't go back to the inn until well after the sun had set. The kids were all pretty much dead on their feet, so Kisame was stuck carrying Nori back to the inn. Mangetsu had Suigetsu on his own back and he could even see Zabuza with some other genin slung over his shoulder. Kisame also felt exhausted.

As tired as he was, Kisame couldn't get to sleep. He kept thinking about everything that had happened. He was also worried about Itachi as he hadn't seen him again after leaving the hospital. Itachi was probably fine and just watching over Sasuke, but he was worried anyway. Kisame tried to push his worry away and sleep, but he was still awake hours later.

At some point Kisame felt the bed dip and recognized Itachi's chakra. Itachi didn't shift any closer, probably because he thought Kisame was asleep, so Kisame reached out and pulled him in close. "I thought you'd be with Sasuke." Itachi relaxed into the hold and shifted even closer. 

"I was, but then he woke up and told me to leave. Is it okay that I came here?" Kisame started to rub circles on Itachi's back, and Itachi relaxed even further.

"Of course Itachi. The bed's big enough for both of us." It really wasn't, but Kisame had gotten so used to sharing it that it felt too big without Itachi. 

"Thanks for going after the kids today. Naruto told me what happened, and I'm glad you were there with him."

"Yeah of course. Though Naruto was really the one who took care of everything today." Itachi laughed, and Kisame felt it against his chest.

"Oh don't worry, Naruto made sure it was clear that he was the hero when he told me what happened. But I'm still glad you were there." Itachi found a way to shift even closer. "After everything that happened today, are you guys planning to go home tomorrow?"

"We don't know yet." Itachi made a questioning sort of noise. “Mei wants to talk to whoever’s currently in charge tomorrow and see if they want any of us to stay and help around the village for a bit.” Itachi sighed.

“Then she’ll be talking to the council and the clan heads. I know them and they won’t accept any help for fear of looking weak at a time like this.” 

“That’s stupid.” Itachi laughed loudly.

“It is. Plus my father will be there, and I doubt he’d approve anything that would let you stay here longer.” He sighed again. “I know it’s selfish with everything else going on, but I don’t want you to leave.” Kisame held Itachi tighter.

“Yeah, I don’t want to leave you either.” They both knew it was probably going to be a while before they could see each other again, even accidentally on a mission. The Leaf was going to be keeping Itachi busy with repairs and missions. 

“I was going to ask the Hokage for a break from missions so I could go back to the Mist with you for a bit after the exam.” Kisame pulled just far enough away to see Itachi’s face. His cheeks were pink. “If you would’ve wanted me to that is.” 

“I would’ve wanted you to.” Kisame brought a hand up and cupped Itachi’s cheek. It felt warm under his hand. “Someday you can come to the Mist and then I can show you my home.” Itachi gave him a soft smile before leaning in to kiss him.

The kiss started off as an unhurried one, but quickly turned into one of needy desperation. This  _ was _ the last night they were going to spend together and they could both feel the urgency. Itachi shifted them so he was laying mostly on top of Kisame and had Kisame’s hands under his shirt. He kissed Kisame and kissed his cheeks and his eyelids and his neck and every other part he could reach. He kissed Kisame like it was the only thing he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Kisame kissed back the same way. Kisame kissed Itachi and kissed his cheeks and his forehead. Then he sat up so he could pull off Itachi’s shirt and then kissed his collarbones and his shoulders. Then he bit down hard on Itachi’s shoulder in the same place he had a month ago. Itachi groaned the same way he had before and pulled Kisame back into the kiss. 

They kissed like that almost all night. At some point Itachi had pulled Kisame's shirt off and left his own marks on the other man. The marks were a promise to each other that they hadn’t said aloud. They hadn’t needed to say it. Itachi had seen Kisame’s heart, and now Kisame had seen Itachi’s. 

* * *

Mei met with the council and the clan heads early, and the meeting went exactly as Itachi had expected it to. They thanked her for the generous offer, but respectfully declined. They also  _ subtly  _ suggested that the Mist group leave by the end of the day. That had everyone rushing to get ready to leave. Somehow things had gotten scattered across the village during the month they had been here. And a lot of the genin made friends with kids from the Leaf, which had them running off to say goodbye before they even packed properly. Mei, Kisame, and Haku were stuck packing everything while the rest of the group was trying to track down the genin.

Itachi had also left early, and Kisame hadn’t seen him since he left bed that morning. As they finished packing and as the genin started to trickle back, Kisame became worried that he might not get to see Itachi again before they left. Mei had encouraged him to go look for the other man, but he had no idea where he’d even start. He was also too nervous to try and search the Uchiha District alone. 

Kisame had a heavy weight on his chest as they all left the inn. He didn’t want to leave yet, but didn't also want to do any damage between the villages by overstaying his welcome. He walked slower than he normally would as they headed towards the village gate.

They were almost to the gate when Kisame felt a familiar chakra signature. He stopped, turned, and caught Itachi as he ran into him. “I’m sorry I’m late! I was doing some cleanup and just heard that you guys were leaving today.” Itachi sounded out of breath. Kisame smiled down at him.

“It’s okay Itachi. You’re just in time to see us off.” Itachi leaned up to kiss him quickly and then held Kisame’s hand as they caught up with the rest of the group. Mei winked at Kisame when she saw them, but for once no whistled or teased him. He knew they were letting him have these last moments with Itachi and were going to claim favors owed later, but he didn't mind.

A group of people were waiting for them at the village gate, and Kisame assumed they were the council and the clan heads. Itachi's dad was among them, and he was glaring at Kisame's hand which was still holding Itachi's. Kisame just held Itachi's hand tighter. One of them, who looked almost exactly like one of the kids from the exam, stepped forward. "Thank you for all of your help yesterday and your offer of further aid. We are grateful to have the Mist as an ally." He bowed to Mei, and she bowed back. 

"Thank you for having us, and we are terribly sorry for the village's loss." The rest of their group bowed, some more respectfully than others. "If you later decide that you do need our aid, please let me know and I'll send some of our best ninjas over." Mei smiled widely at them before turning to face Itachi. "It was a pleasure to meet you Itachi, and I hope that I'll get to see you again sometime soon." She winked at Itachi, and Kisame could see his father narrow his eyes at her.

"The pleasure's all mine Lady Mizukage. And I also hope that I'll be able to see you again soon." He smiled at her before bowing his head. 

Each of the Swordsmen and the genin then came up to give their own goodbyes to Itachi. Kisame had to let go of his hand as most of the kids ended up wanting to hug him goodbye. Watching Itachi hug them caused a bittersweet warmth in Kisame's chest. But then it was Kisame's turn to say his own goodbye.

Itachi was looking up at him with a small, soft smile that looked sad. Kisame's own smile probably looked the same. "I still don't want you to leave." Itachi's voice was quiet, probably to keep everyone else from listening in.

"I don't want to leave either Itachi." Kisame kept his voice quiet too. "But I promise we'll see each other again soon." They both knew it wasn't a promise Kisame could keep, but Itachi didn't call him out on it. Instead he shifted closer. Itachi looked up at him like he was waiting for Kisame to do something, and, now after spending a month with him, Kisame knew that the ‘something’ was kiss him. “Are you sure you want me to kiss you in front of your dad?” Itachi rolled his eyes.

“Yes I’m sure.” Kisame didn’t make Itachi wait any longer. He leaned down and kissed him. Itachi immediately wound his arms around Kisame’s neck and deepened the kiss.

“Itachi!” His father’s shout seemed to encourage Itachi to deepen the kiss even further. Kisame pulled Itachi in close and wished they had more time together. But they didn’t, so he pulled back when he could hear Mei clear her throat. Itachi frowned up at him, and Kisame wanted to lean back down and kiss him again. But he didn’t.

“I’ve got to go, Itachi.” Itachi sighed.

“I know. I love you.” Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot. 

“I--” Itachi quickly covered Kisame’s mouth with his hand.

“Tell me next time we see each other.” He moved his hand and kissed Kisame quickly. Then he took a step back. “Goodbye Kisame.” 

“Bye Itachi.” He looked at Itachi for a long moment, before turning around, and walking over to the rest of the group. Ameyuri smacked him hard on his back when he fell into step with her. She didn’t say anything to him though, which he was grateful for.

Kisame thought about Itachi the entire trip back. He couldn’t stop himself from imagining what it would’ve been like if Itachi could’ve come back with them. He felt that bittersweet warmth in his chest again as he imagined it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Chōjūrō and Choji would've become best friends <3 Suigetsu gets a crush on Sasuke. And Nori and Kiba become best friends when they realize his name is the same as the swords.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	19. Chapter 19

To make up for the month they were gone, Mei had all of the Swordsmen out on almost nonstop missions. Ameyuri and Zabuza complained about it loudly and often, but Kisame didn’t mind it. He actually preferred being away on missions. They took his mind off Itachi and took him away from his place. Since getting back, Kisame had trouble just being alone there. He had been lonely in it before, but now the loneliness felt suffocating. He was also having trouble sleeping. The bed felt too big and too cold in a way it never had before.

Mei noticed something was wrong with him because she almost always noticed when something was wrong with him. She found him sitting on one of their cold beaches looking out at the ocean. She sat down next to him and knocked their shoulders together. “I’d ask what you’re thinking about, but I already know what it is.” Kisame laughed and knocked their shoulders together again.

“You could be wrong. There’s a lot of things I could be thinking about.” Mei snorted and the air around them suddenly felt much hotter.

“Yeah right. Do you miss him?” Kisame sighed.

“Yeah, but it’s not just that. Things have been better since you’ve been in charge, and I actually feel like I can trust people again. I’m not always worried that my teammate is going to kill me for a mission or something, you know?” He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. “But being a ninja is still so fucking lonely sometimes. I tried not to think about it too much before because things really are better now and I didn’t think it could even get any better than that. But then somehow it did. And Itachi just  _ fits _ you know? Like he understands this stuff and I really like him and he actually likes me too. But now I just feel even lonelier when I’m alone at my place.” He sighed again and then looked at Mei. “Do you know what I’m trying to say?” Mei smiled at him a little sadly.

“I know exactly what you’re trying to say. Being a ninja  _ is  _ lonely. And sometimes I even get a little jealous that you found someone that you fit with so well and I haven’t. But mostly I’m happy for you.” She hummed thoughtfully. “You know we could kidnap Itachi and keep him here. I know the Cloud Village is very into doing that.” Kisame laughed loudly.

“Thanks Mei. But I don’t think we should. He wants to be Hokage, and I think he’d be a pretty good one.” She hummed again.

“Do you think they’ll make him the next Hokage?” He shook his head.

“No. From his letters it seems like they want someone older right now. Their top candidates are Itachi’s dad and Jiraiya.” He was secretly hoping that they went with Jiraiya. “But I think he’ll be the one after that.” 

“Would you move to the Leaf if he became Hokage?” He shrugged.

“I don’t know. I would want to be sure if he actually wanted me to and that I actually wanted to. And the Mist  _ is _ my home.” Mei patted him on his arm.

“Well if he did become Hokage and you did decide you wanted to, then I’d support you. Both as your friend and as the Mizukage. You’d have to come back to visit a lot though.” Kisame laughed again and then smiled at her. She smiled back.

“Thanks Mei. And thanks for listening to me. I’ll be fine, I just need time to get used to everything again.” She patted his arm again before standing. 

“Of course Kisame. And you know where I’ll be if you want to talk about it more.”

“You just want to use me to get out of doing all your paperwork.” She laughed loudly.

“Yeah, you know me too well. Speaking of paperwork, if you see Ao and he asks, you  _ didn’t _ see me today. Okay?” He laughed just as loudly.

“Okay.” Mei winked at him before disappearing.

Kisame stayed on the beach for a long time after Mei left. It was cold and his legs grew numb at some point, but the sound of the waves lapping at the shore put him at ease. His loneliness wasn’t quite gone, but he felt less suffocated by it after talking with Mei. He  _ did _ miss Itachi and his bed  _ was _ too big and too cold, but it would be okay. He was going to get to see Itachi again, hopefully sometime soon, and then those things wouldn’t be true anymore. 


	20. Chapter 20

Kisame had been allowed back out on solo missions since coming home from the chunin exam. Mostly because he was willing to take any mission out of the village. He also hadn’t run into Itachi or his brother or anyone else from the Leaf, so all of his missions from the past few months had been successful. He had just finished another easy assassination mission on one of the little islands on the edge of the Land of Water and was already on his way back to the village.

He stopped running when he thought he felt a faint flicker of familiar chakra. It was so faint that he hadn’t been sure, but after a while he felt it again. It was just as faint the second time, but now he could recognize it as Itachi’s. He was worried as to why his chakra felt so faint and immediately headed towards him. 

Kisame found Itachi in the middle of a fight. He was surrounded by a group of what looked like rogue ninjas and there were odd black flames burning some nearby trees. Itachi wasn’t fighting like he normally did. He seemed sluggish and it looked like his arm was bleeding. It looked like he was losing this fight, which is why Kisame didn’t hesitate at all to join in. He quickly unstrapped Samehada and swung at the closest ninja. He swung hard and felt a vicious sort of satisfaction when the ninja flew back a few feet. Then he immediately swung at the next ninja and sent that one flying too. 

Kisame and Itachi fought well together. They tossed the rogue ninjas between each other as they worked to finish them off. They probably would’ve been able to finish the fight quickly if Itachi hadn’t already been weakened. But he had been, and Kisame panicked as he saw him fall to the ground. Kisame put more force into his next swing and heard something crack. Then he made some water clones and put the ninjas who were still standing in water prisons. They all would’ve drowned at some point if Kisame just left them like that. But he didn’t want to. He smiled to himself unpleasantly and then had each clone put a shark in each water prison. As the sharks devoured the rogue ninja, Kisame went over to check on Itachi.

Itachi’s chakra was still faint as was his pulse, but both were there. Kisame breathed a little easier at feeling both. But then he panicked again after he took off Itachi’s mask and saw the blood on his cheeks. It looked like his eyes had bled and it could’ve been because of the sharingan, but Kisame didn’t know enough about it to be certain. He wiped the blood off as best he could. Samehada chirped unhappily as he strapped it onto his back and then picked up Itachi gently. Itachi felt light, like he had lost some weight recently, which only caused Kisame to worry more.

They weren’t too far from the Mist, so Kisame ran with Itachi as quickly as he could. He was out of breath by the time he made it back to the village, but it was the quickest he had ever gotten anywhere. Itachi hadn’t woken up at all, and Kisame had never been more worried before. He rushed to the hospital once he was in the village.

Kisame knew the people at the front desk of the hospital well enough that they didn’t ask him too many questions when he burst in with Itachi. Instead they took Itachi and only asked how long he had been like that and what had been happening before he fell unconscious. Kisame answered as best he could and mentioned the blood and Itachi’s sharingan. But then he was told he had to wait as they looked him over. 

It felt like Kisame had been waiting forever by the time he got an update on Itachi. A medical ninja that patched him up more than a few times eventually came out to talk to him. He didn’t look troubled, so Kisame took that as a good sign. “Is he okay Kiri?” 

“He’ll be fine. He exhausted his chakra and needs to rest, but he’ll be okay.” Kisame sighed in relief. “He can stay here overnight if you want, but he would also be okay if you wanted to take him home.” Kiri was looking at him knowingly, but Kisame was still too worried to be embarrassed. 

"Would it be better for him to stay here?" Kiri shook his head.

"All he really needs is rest. There's nothing else we could do for him here, so it would be okay to take him." Kisame thought about it for a moment. It probably would be safer to keep him at the hospital, but that would also probably freak him out. Kisame knew he'd freak out if he woke up at the Leaf hospital without knowing how he got here. 

"I can take him home." 

"Okay, I'll show you where he is." Kiri led him further into the hospital. They eventually got to Itachi's room. He was still unconscious and he looked small on the bed. They had done a better job of cleaning off the blood on his face though, so Itachi at least looked a little better than before. Kisame picked him up gently.

"Thanks Kiri."

Kisame's place was pretty close to the hospital, which was always convenient. Mei and Mangetsu were waiting for him at his place. They looked at Itachi in worry, but didn't ask him anything yet. They just watched as Kisame brought Itachi into his room and tucked him into his bed. He looked small in Kisame's bed too. Kisame kissed his forehead gently and then went back into the other room. 

"We heard that you came back with an injured Leaf ninja and rushed to the hospital. We assumed it was Itachi. Is he okay?" Mei sounded worried.

"He'll be okay. Kiri said it's chakra exhaustion, and he just needs to rest." They both nodded almost in unison. 

"Did you find him like that?" Kisame shook his head in response to Mangetsu's question.

"No, I found him in the middle of a fight. I went to help him and things seemed okay, but then he fell unconscious. We were pretty close, so I brought him here." They both nodded again. "Sorry for not checking in Mei." She patted his arm.

"It's okay Kisame. You can tell me how your mission went after Itachi wakes up. I'll see you later." She patted his arm again and then left with Mangetsu. Kisame went back into his room, pulled a chair close to his bed, and watched over Itachi.

* * *

Kisame must've fallen asleep at some point because he woke up when he could hear Itachi mumble something. It seemed like he was starting to wake up, so Kisame shifted closer to him. Itachi mumbled some more and shifted around a bit on the bed. Then Itachi stopped moving all at once, and Kisame knew he was awake. "Hey Itachi." He kept his voice quiet so as not to startle Itachi. 

"Kisame?" Itachi opened his eyes slowly and then looked over at him. "Where am I?" 

"My place. Do you remember what happened?" Itachi reached out, so Kisame grabbed his hand and squeezed it. 

"I remember fighting and I remember you helping. But that's it." He tugged on Kisame's hand, probably trying to pull him into the bed, but Kisame stayed where he was.

"You fell unconscious and had blood on your face, so I brought you here. The medical ninja said you had chakra exhaustion." He squeezed Itachi's hand again. "What happened?" Itachi tugged on his hand again.

"Come here Kisame."

"You need to rest Itachi." He just tugged on his hand again.

"And I'd rest better with you over here. Please Kisame. I missed you." He was looking at Kisame pleadingly. Kisame looked at him for a long moment and then climbed into the bed with him. Itachi immediately curled around him, so Kisame wrapped his own arms around Itachi. He felt a warmth in his chest for the first time in months as he buried his face in Itachi’s hair.

“I missed you too, Itachi.” Itachi shifted even closer.

“I’m glad you were there. The mission started out fine, but then--” Itachi interrupted himself with a loud yawn. 

“You can tell me later. You should try to go back to sleep.” 

“I don’t want to sleep. I want to talk to you.” Kisame laughed quietly and then kissed the top of Itachi’s head.

“And you can talk to me when you wake up. I promise I’m not going anywhere Itachi.” Itachi made some kind of noise, but didn’t say anything else. Kisame felt Itachi’s breathing even out, and then he felt himself start to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kiri is the name of the Mist, but also the name of some random medic ninja in the war arc! 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! <3


	21. Chapter 21

Kisame woke up feeling warm and well-rested in a way he hadn’t for a long time. The reason for that shifted in his arms. Kisame held Itachi tighter and smiled at him when he woke up. “Morning Itachi.” Itachi smiled back at him.

“Good morning Kisame. I thought maybe seeing you had been a dream.” 

“No. You’re really at my place.” Itachi’s smile got a little wider.

“In your bed you mean.” Kisame laughed and watched Itachi’s cheek turn pink at the sound. Then he shifted just enough to kiss Itachi. It had been months since he had last seen Itachi and last kissed him, but now it felt like no time had passed at all. Itachi had a small, soft smile when he pulled away, and it made Kisame somehow feel even warmer.

“I love you Itachi.” Itachi’s blush darkened, and he was looking at Kisame in awe. It made him want to kiss Itachi again, so he did. They kissed for a long while. 

Kisame rested his forehead against Itachi’s when they eventually stopped kissing. Itachi’s breathing was heavy, and Kisame knew why it was, but he still felt some of his worry from the day before come back. “How do you feel?” Itachi huffed, and he could feel it against his lips.

“I’m fine Kisame.” He ran a hand through Kisame’s hair, and he started to relax into the touch. 

“Are you sure?” Itachi huffed again.

“I promise I’m fine. Just a little tired and overworked. Tsunade’s been sending me out on non-stop, solo missions because we just don’t have enough ninjas to cover them all anymore. And I haven’t been sleeping very well.” Kisame started to rub Itachi’s back and liked the way he melted into the touch.

“I haven’t been sleeping well either.” They both knew they hadn’t been sleeping well for the same reason. “Wait, who’s Tsunade?” 

“Oh! I haven’t had any time to send you a letter about it. Tsunade’s the new Hokage. Jiraiya really didn’t want to do it, so he found her and convinced her to.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m really glad your dad isn’t the new Hokage.” Itachi laughed loudly. 

“I am too. Tsuande’s doing a good job, but it will still be a while before the village is fully recovered from Orochimaru’s attack. So I still have non-stop missions to look forward to for a while.” Itachi sighed and shifted closer.

“How’s Sasuke doing?” Itachi sighed again.

“Physically he’s okay. But he’s been so  _ angry _ at everything. He won’t talk to me about it, and I don’t think he’s talked to any of his friends about it either. It’s probably nothing, but it just makes me worried.” Itachi sighed a third time and then shifted even closer. 

“I’m sorry, Itachi. I hope it’s nothing.”

“Thanks Kisame. How have you been?” He shrugged and jostled Itachi with the motion.

“I’ve been….” He remembered his conversation with Mei at the beach. “Lonely.” Itachi made some kind of noise low in his throat and then he was pulling away. Kisame thought that maybe he had said too much, but then it became clear that Itachi was only pulling away so he had enough room to hold Kisame’s face in his hands. 

“I have too. I’ve missed you so much Kisame. I know it’s selfish, but I just want you to be with me all the time.” Kisame smiled at him.

“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes Itachi. And I want that too.” Itachi smiled back at him.

The moment was broken when Itachi’s stomach let out a loud sound. He looked embarrassed when Kisame laughed. “I’ll go make you something to eat. You can stay in bed.” Kisame tried to untangle himself from Itachi, but Itachi wouldn’t let him. 

“I’m not that hungry.” Kisame rolled his eyes at him.

“You should eat anyway. You can get a shower if you don’t want to stay in bed.” Itachi sighed, but let Kisame get out of bed. Kisame kissed his forehead quickly before leaving the room.

Because he had been out on missions often recently, there wasn’t a lot of food to choose from in his kitchen. There was a lot he needed to throw out and a lot he couldn't do anything with. He figured that eggs would have to be good enough as it was pretty much the only thing he really had. Kisame smiled to himself as he heard the shower turn on as he started to cook. 

Itachi wandered into the kitchen as he was putting the eggs on a plate. Kisame felt a heat low in his gut when he noticed that Itachi was wearing his clothes. He left the plate on the counter, walked over to Itachi, and pulled him into a deep kiss. Itachi looked up at him knowingly when he pulled away. "Do you like it when I wear your clothes Kisame?" His voice was light and teasing. 

"I do." Kisame's own voice was low and rough. "And I know you like it too because you still have some of my shirts back home." Itachi laughed. 

"I do. Thanks for making me something." Itachi wandered over to his counter. He found a cup and filled it with water and then found some chopsticks. He moved around Kisame's kitchen like he had already been there many times before. He ate quickly, and Kisame wished he had more to offer him.

When he was finished, Itachi went to wash his plate, but Kisame wrapped his arms around him from behind to stop him. "I can get it later. You should get some more rest." Itachi sighed.

"Now that I'm awake I should actually head back to the Leaf." Kisame tightened his arms around Itachi.

“Are you sure? You can stay here until you actually feel better. And I’ll admit that I selfishly just want to keep you here for a little bit longer.” He kissed Itachi’s neck, hoping that might help persuade him. Itachi titled his neck to give Kisame better access for a second kiss, which he took as a good sign.

“Do you….is it really okay to stay just because I want to?” Itachi sounded hesitant and shy as he asked, and it reminded Kisame of the first time they met.

“Yeah Itachi. It’s really okay.” Itachi turned around in his arms so he could look up at him.

“I could only stay until tomorrow and I’d need to send a message back today. Is that okay?” He still sounded hesitant and shy, so Kisame pulled him in close.

“Yeah that’s okay. We can use one of Mei’s hawks to send a message.”

“Is that allowed?” Itachi’s tone implied that he thought the answer was ‘no’. Kisame just shrugged.

“I think Mei would be fine with it.” Itachi looked like he didn’t believe him, but he didn’t say that. Instead he shifted onto his toes to kiss Kisame quickly. 

“Thank you.” Kisame smiled down at him before pulling away.

“Let’s go ask her now and then I can show you the village.” Itachi just smiled back in response.

It didn’t usually take Kisame long to get to the Mizukage office, but he also wasn’t usually stopping every five seconds to point something out. He pointed out everything he could see to Itachi. Most of it was pretty boring stuff, but Itachi smiled goodnaturedly at all of it. He kept his hand in Kisame’s as they walked.

The anbu at the door let them into the building without any questions, which was a little weird. Kisame thought they would’ve asked who Itachi was, but he guessed Mei could’ve told them about him. Or they also could’ve thought that Itachi was a Mist ninja. At a quick glance, it was  _ almost _ like Itachi was from the Mist. His anbu tattoo was covered, he didn’t have his sharingan activated, and he was wearing part of Kisame’s uniform. For a moment Kisame could perfectly picture what it’d be like if Itachi did move to the Mist. The moment passed as they walked into Mei’s office. 

She was inside arguing with Ao and Zabuza about something. Or she had been. As soon she caught sight of them she dropped the argument and walked over. “Oh Itachi, the Mist uniform looks so good on you!” She started circling Itachi and didn’t even look over at Kisame.

“You never say that the uniforms look good on us.” Zabuza sounded bratty in the exact same way that Suigetsu usually did. Mei reluctantly looked back over at him.

“You don’t even wear the uniform. All you wear is that ugly cow print.” Zabuza threw his arms up in exasperation.

“I know you know it’s camouflage.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“All I know is that it’s ugly.” She turned back to Itachi, and her face immediately softened. “How are you feeling?” Itachi smiled back at her pleasantly.

“Much better. Thank you Lady Mizukage.” She gave him a pointed look, which he laughed at. “I mean Mei.” She smiled widely at him. 

“Are you here to ask me to officially move to the Mist?” Itachi laughed loudly.

“Not yet, but I have been thinking about it.” Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot. “I was actually hoping I could borrow a hawk to send a message back home.” 

“Absolutely not.” Ao shoved his way into the conversation and into their space. “Those birds are for official Mizukage messages only. Back in my day no one would even  _ think _ of using them for personal messages.” Kisame and Zabuza rolled their eyes in unison. 

“Ao.” Mei turned to him and smiled dangerously. “I’ll kill you if you keep talking.” Ao paled. Mei turned her pleasant smile back to Itachi. “Of course you can Itachi. Are you sending a message to your parents?” He shook his head.

“I actually need to send something to our new Hokage, Lady Tsunade.” Mei’s smile widened.

“The legendary Tsuande is your new Hokage?” Itachi nodded. “Oh excellent! I’ll send her my own letter too.” Mei walked over to her desk and gestured for Itachi to follow. Once there she handed him a pen and some paper and then got started on writing her own note. Kisame watched fondly as Itachi immediately started writing too.

Mei and Itachi finished their messages almost at the same time. She took both and handed them to Ao. “Now this counts as official Mizukage business. So send them out with our fastest bird, okay?” She smiled at Ao dangerously.

“Yes Lady Mizukage.” He left the room quickly. Mei turned her pleasant smile back to Itachi. 

“I hope this means you’re planning to stay for a bit.” She sounded hopeful.

“Just until tomorrow.” Mei frowned and then turned to look at Kisame for the first time since he entered her office. 

"What did you do?" She sounded like she was accusing Kisame, but he had no idea why.

"I didn't do anything."

" _ Why _ didn't you do anything?" She still sounded like she was accusing him. He turned to Itachi for help. Itachi smiled at him and then turned that smile onto Mei. 

"Kisame already convinced me to stay longer than I was planning to. I would love to stay even longer, but the village is feeling the effects of Orochimaru's attack, and I'm needed back home." Mei sighed.

"Fair enough." She sat back down behind her desk. "And I guess we still have today to convince you to stay longer. You." She pointed at Zabuza. "Tell everyone we're taking Itachi out for dinner later." Zabuza grumbled.

"Oh you don't need to do that." Mei waved her hand at Itachi in response to him.

"It's no trouble. Besides, I know Kisame barely has any food at his place." Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot again. "Now go and see the sights. We'll see you guys later." Mei winked at them before turning her attention to something on her desk. Kisame grabbed Itachi's hand and pulled him out of the office before Zabuza had a chance to say something else rude or embarrassing.

* * *

Kisame showed Itachi the Mist. He showed him their new academy, their training grounds, and their weapon shops. He pointed out people he knew and even some that he didn't. Then he bought Itachi some dango and took him to his favorite spot on the beach. The beach was cold and empty, but it was pretty much always cold and empty. Itachi didn't complain though. Instead he sat down with his back pressed against Kisame's chest and Kisame's arms wrapped around him tightly. 

They sat on the beach and talked for a long time. They told each other about the missions they had been on since they last saw each other. Itachi talked about Sasuke and Shisui and Haku’s friend Naruto. Kisame talked about Mei and the Swordsmen and the genin, who were now all mosty chunin. They talked until Kisame could feel Itachi start to shiver. He stood up and pulled Itachi with him. Then suddenly Itachi was the one pulling off him away from the water and back towards his place. 

Kisame felt a tense kind of excitement as they walked through the village. His blood was thrumming under his skin like he was about to get into a fight. Every so often Itachi would turn his head just enough to smile at him and that would get his blood thrumming even more. It felt like  _ something _ was about to happen, and Kisame was excited to find out exactly what that something was going to be.

They were kissing before they were even through the door. The kiss was needy and desperate and it wasn't enough. Itachi pulled away so he could pull off his shirt. Then he helped Kisame get out of his own shirt. Itachi ran his hands across Kisame's chest and then his sides and then his back. His hands were still cold from all the time they spent outside, but Kisame liked how they felt against his skin. He ran his own hands down Itachi's back and liked the way Itachi shivered at the touch. They were kissing again, but it still wasn't enough. So Kisame moved his hands to the back of Itachi’s thighs and then lifted. Itachi wrapped his legs around Kisame’s waist without any hesitation and used their new position to change the angle of their kiss. They were pressed together so closely and it was finally almost enough.

Kisame did his best to keep kissing Itachi as he carried him into his room. The kiss became sloppy and he almost tripped on something, but Itachi didn’t seem to mind. He held tighter with the hand he had in Kisame’s hair and with his legs around his waist. Kisame did break the kiss when he could feel the edge of his bed with his knee. Itachi’s cheeks were pink and he was looking at Kisame in confusion. “Drop your arms for a second.” Itachi did. Kisame grinned at him before gently tossing him onto the bed. Itachi made some kind of noise in surprise as Kisame laughed. Then Kisame took a moment to just look at him.

“Kisame?” Itachi’s cheeks were still pink, but now so was his chest.

“Just still can’t believe you’re here.” Kisame climbed onto the bed so that he was straddling Itachi. He put one of his hands on Itachi’s chest just over his heart. It felt like it was beating quickly. He looked up at Itachi’s face and noticed that he had activated his sharingan. “Why’s your sharingan on?” Itachi’s blush got darker.

“I...uh...I want to remember you exactly like this later.” Kisame felt himself blush. “Is that okay?” He smiled down at Itachi.

“Yeah, that’s okay.” Then he leaned down so he could kiss Itachi. 

Itachi quickly took control of the kiss again, and Kisame let him. He let Itachi shift them so that now he was on top of Kisame, looking down at him through the sharingan. He let Itachi bite his neck hard, and then Kisame bit Itachi's neck just as hard. Then Itachi pulled him into a kiss filled with so much urgency that it felt like Itachi was going to leave as soon as it was over. Kisame held him close as he kissed back.

At some point Itachi found a way to slide their pants off without really breaking the kiss. Their boxers were still on, but they were pressed together so closely that it didn't feel like they were. Kisame felt like he had caught on fire. They only stopped kissing when Itachi needed to catch his breath. Kisame could feel each shuddering breath Itachi took in his own chest. He liked how it felt. "I love you Itachi." He could also feel the moment when Itachi's breathing hitched.

"I love you too Kisame." He tried to press even closer. "I...I want to feel more of you." At first Kisame didn't understand what Itachi meant as they were already touching almost everywhere. Then he felt himself get even hotter when he did understand.

"Oh." He shifted them just enough so that he could see Itachi's face. Itachi looked both shy, but also sure of himself. "I want that too."

"Are you sure?" Kisame smiled at him.

"Yeah I'm sure." He slid his hand further down Itachi's back and stopped just as his thumb brushed under the waistband of his boxers. “Are you su--” Itachi interrupted him with a kiss. Then he slid his own hand down Kisame’s side and didn’t stop when he reached Kisame’s boxers. Instead he pushed them down as far as he could without moving. Then he pulled away from the kiss so that he could look at Kisame pointedly. Kisame laughed softly and then pushed down Itachi’s boxers as far as he could. Itachi shifted so he could pull off both pairs completely and then he looked at all of Kisame. 

“I love looking at you.” Kisame felt himself blush all over and knew Itachi could see it. But he didn’t squirm away or try to hide or anything. Instead he sat up, reached out, grabbed Itachi low on his hips, and then pulled him into his lap. They were pressed together everywhere now, and Kisame loved how it felt. He also loved the way Itachi groaned as he slid his hand up his thigh. He kept moving his hand until he was almost touching Itachi’s dick and then stopped.

“Is this okay?” 

“Yes.” Itachi’s voice was hoarse, and he responded before Kisame even finished asking. Kisame grinned at him and then wrapped his hand around Itachi’s dick. Itachi groaned again. Kisame moved his hand slowly at first and then sped up as he tried to figure out what Itachi liked. Itachi groaned and whimpered and looked at Kisame’s hand with his sharingan. Kisame wished he had his own sharingan so he could remember exactly what Itachi looked like in this moment. Instead he found a way to pull Itachi even closer and then kissed him. He groaned into the kiss as he felt his thumb brush against his own dick as he stroked Itachi’s. That had Itachi pressing further into his hand and pulling away from the kiss. “ _ Kisame I...I... _ ” Itachi’s voice was hoarse and breathless.

“What do you need, Itachi?” His own voice sounded just as hoarse and breathless. “Is this too much?” Itachi shook his head, and Kisame was distracted for a moment by the way his hair swayed with the motion. 

“I want to touch you too.” He ghosted a hand down Kisame’s side as he said it. Kisame leaned into the touch. 

“You can touch me, Itachi.” Itachi gave him a small smile before nudging at Kisame’s hand. Kisame took the hint and took his hand off of Itachi. Then Itachi shifted even closer and wrapped a hand around Kisame’s dick and his own. Kisame groaned and rested his forehead against Itachi’s shoulder. Itachi’s hand was hot and his grip was tight, and Kisame already felt close. He felt closer when he heard Itachi’s breathing get heavier. He threaded a hand in Itachi’s hair, kissed his way up his neck, and then pulled him into a rough kiss. Itachi’s grip tightened around them as they kissed. 

The kiss got sloppy as Itachi’s hand sped up. He pressed closer to Kisame and let out a quiet moan against his lips as he came. Itachi’s hand paused for only a moment, but then he was stroking Kisame’s dick with a determined intensity. It reminded Kisame of all the times they fought and had him pressing further into Itachi’s hand. Itachi pulled away from the kiss and looked down at his own hand through his sharingan. His cheeks were pink and his lips were swollen and seeing him like that pushed Kisame over the edge. He buried his face into the crook of Itachi’s neck as he came. 

They stayed sitting together like that until their breathing started to even out. Then Kisame shifted just enough to grab whatever was closest to them off of the floor. Whatever was closest ended up being an old shirt that he used to clean them both off before throwing it back on the floor. Then he shifted again so they were both lying down, curled together. Itachi tucked his head into the space just under Kisame’s chin. “Should we be getting ready to go out with your friends?” His voice was muffled as he asked the question into Kisame’s neck.

“We still have some time.” Kisame ran a hand through Itachi’s hair and they stayed like that for a while.

* * *

They met everyone at the sushi place later as it was the only place to really go in the Mist. Ameyuri whooped when she saw Itachi and then tackled him into a hug. Everyone else said hello more normally, and Kisame felt a warmth in his chest. The warmth grew throughout dinner as he watched Itachi with his friends. Itachi answered all of Suigetsu’s questions about Sasuke that he asked as if he didn’t really care about the answers. He laughed as Zabuza told him that Ameyuri only cut her hair because Omoi had gotten a lollipop stuck in it. He smiled pleasantly at Mei everytime she unsubtly suggested that he should move to the Mist. Kisame kept an arm around Itachi’s shoulders all night and liked the way Itachi kept a hand on his knee.

It wasn’t late when they got back to Kisame’s place, but he led Itachi to bed despite his protests anyway. He didn’t want Itachi to leave in the morning, but knew he was going to and wanted him to be as well-rested as he could. He could still remember how frail he looked when he carried him to the Mist the day before. Despite his protests, Itachi did follow him to bed and curled himself around Kisame. He tucked his head in the space under Kisame’s chin. “I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.” Kisame liked the way he could feel Itachi’s lips move against his neck as he spoke. 

“It’s okay Itachi. I understand why you can’t.” He started to rub circles on Itachi’s back. “I know now wouldn’t be the time for it, but I’ve been….well I’ve been thinking about moving to the Leaf. You know if you’d want me to.” Itachi pulled away in a rush, sat up, and looked down at him. Kisame felt the back of his neck go hot under the weight of Itachi’s stare.

“You’d move to the Leaf?” He sounded both like he didn’t believe it, but also hopeful that it was true. Kisame nodded. “You wouldn’t want me to move here?” Kisame sat up too so he could wrap his arms back around Itachi. 

“I would love it if you moved here, but you want to be Hokage. I don’t think that’s the kind of job they’d let you do remotely.” Itachi laughed softly before looking at him seriously again.

“Wouldn’t you miss the Mist and everyone if you left?” 

“I would. But you’d miss the Leaf and everyone there if you came here.” Itachi made a noise low in his throat. “One of us is going to be homesick, and I’m okay with it being me.” Itachi made the noise again.

“Are you sure? How would Mei feel about it?” Kisame tightened his arms around Itachi.

“I am sure. And while Mei would rather you came here, she said she’d support me leaving. I’d only move if you wanted me to, Itachi.” Itachi held Kisame’s face gently in his hands.

“I want you to Kisame. I love you and I want you to.” He leaned in and kissed Kisame gently. “I can talk to the Hokage about it when I get back.” Kisame smiled at him.

“If she says no, then you can just move here.” Itachi laughed again.

“If she says no, then I will.” Kisame laid back down and pulled Itachi with him. “I’m going to miss you.” 

“I’m going to miss you too. But we won’t be apart for long and then we’ll be able to do this all the time.” Kisame kissed the top of Itachi’s head. “For now you should try and get some sleep.” Itachi huffed, but didn’t say anything else. Instead he curled around Kisame and pressed a kiss against his neck.

Kisame fell asleep long after Itachi did.

* * *

Kisame woke up feeling warm and well-rested for the second day in a row. Itachi shifted in his arms, and Kisame hoped he wasn’t about to wake up. He just wanted a few more minutes with him like this before he had to leave. Itachi shifted again, and Kisame knew his few minutes were up already. He brushed a kiss against the top of Itachi’s head as he opened his eyes. “Good morning Kisame.”

“Morning Itachi.” He shifted so he could brush another kiss against Itachi’s cheek. “When are you planning to leave?” 

“As soon as we get up.” Kisame tightened his arms around Itachi.

“Then is there any way I can convince you to stay in bed for longer?” Itachi laughed softly and kissed Kisame. 

“I’m afraid there isn’t. I’m sorry Kisame.” Kisame kissed him again before pulling away. 

“It’s okay Itachi.” They climbed out of bed slowly and then got dressed slowly. Kisame smiled at Itachi knowingly as he pulled on one of Kisame’s shirts, but didn’t say anything. He found a hairband that one of the kids must’ve left and pulled Itachi’s hair into a ponytail. He then kissed Itachi for a long time.

They walked slowly through the village. Itachi’s hand clutched his own tightly, and Kisame never wanted to let it go. But he did once they were just outside of the village. It was the same spot where Itachi had first kissed his cheek all those months ago, and Kisame felt a warmth in his chest as he remembered it. Based on Itachi’s smile, he was remembering it too. Kisame leaned down and kissed Itachi the way he should’ve the last time they were here. Itachi kissed back without hesitating. He had a small, sad smile when Kisame pulled away. “I’ll send you a letter after I get a chance to talk to Tsunade, okay?” 

“Okay. I’ll see you soon Itachi.” They both knew he couldn’t know that for sure, but Itachi didn’t say anything. Instead he leaned up for another quick kiss. 

“Goodbye Kisame. I love you.” Kisame smiled at him and knew it probably looked sad. 

“I love you too. Goodbye Itachi.” They looked at each other for a long moment before Itachi disappeared. 

After a few minutes, Kisame went back to the village and back to his place. He climbed back into bed and noticed that his pillow smelled like Itachi. He held it close, but wasn’t able to fall back asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is like WAY longer than all the others, but I couldn't figure out any good clean splits. Here is the promised one smutty scene.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!


	22. Chapter 22

It had been a couple of months since Kisame had seen Itachi. He had gotten a few short letters from him, so he knew he was okay and still busy with missions. Itachi hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Tsunade yet, but Kisame hadn’t really expected him to. He understood why Itachi was so busy, but he still missed him. He tried to keep himself busy with his own missions and training the kids. It was pretty easy to do as Mei seemed to think he was about to leave at any moment and was getting all of the work out of him that she could. 

Kisame was exhausted after spending a day trying to teach a handful of their academy kids how to walk on water. It took a while for the kids to get anywhere with it, so most of the time was spent fishing them out of the water. By the end of it Kisame was soaked and had the worst migraine of his life. When he got home, he immediately went to his closet to grab some dry clothes. The first thing his eye caught was the shirt Itachi had left there. Kisame would've put it on if he could, but, as it was too small, he settled for running his fingers over it briefly before grabbing something else. Then he climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. 

He wasn’t sure what woke him up at first. His room was quiet, and he couldn’t feel any unfamiliar chakra. But then he realized he could feel familiar chakra. “Itachi?” He reached out, but couldn’t feel anyone else on the bed. Kisame opened his eyes and it took him a few moments to find Itachi. He was standing by the door and it looked like he was a ghost. “Itachi? Are you okay?”

“No, I…” Itachi’s voice was hoarse, like he hadn’t spoken in a few days. “Sasuke, he’s--” His voice cracked, and Kisame was worried. He got out of bed and quickly went over to him. As he got closer, he noticed that Itachi looked terrible. His ponytail was in disarray, his face was ashen, and he was covered in dirt. Kisame only got more worried as he got closer. 

“What happened to Sasuke?”

“He--” His voice cracked again. “Orochimaru took him.” Itachi’s voice broke on the last word, and then he was crying. Kisame immediately pulled him into a tight hug. “I came back from a mission and they told me he was gone.” His body shuddered as he spoke and as he cried. Kisame rubbed his back and hoped it was even a small comfort. “They only sent genin after him and they all almost died. Sasuke--” Itachi’s voice broke again. “Sasuke almost  _ killed  _ Naruto.  _ Why would he do that? _ ” Itachi’s voice was broken and trembling, and Kisame held him tighter. He wished he had any kind of answer for Itachi. 

“I’m sorry Itachi.” He pressed his face further into Kisame’s neck. 

“I’m going to find him. I  _ have _ to before Orochimaru does anything else to him.” His voice was muffled, but Kisame could still hear the certainty in it. He pulled away from Kisame and roughly wiped the tears off of his face. “I came here to--” His voice broke again, and his hand was trembling. But he pulled away further when Kisame reached out to him. “I came here to say goodbye.” 

“What?” Kisame felt a lot of things, but he mostly felt confused. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m going to look for Sasuke.” Kisame nodded because he did understand that part. “I don’t know when I’ll get to see you again or even if I’ll ever get to. I...I don’t want you waiting for me.” Itachi’s hand was still trembling, and he sounded like he was about to start crying again. Kisame reached out again and successfully grabbed Itachi’s wrist that time. Then he pulled Itachi in close and wrapped him in another tight hug. Itachi was stiff in his arms.

“What makes you think you have to look for him alone? I’ll go with you.” He heard Itachi’s breathing catch. 

“Kisame, you don’t have to do that.” He was trying to pull away, but Kisame wouldn’t let him.

“I  _ want _ to help you look for him. I know how important Sasuke is to you.” Itachi made some kind of noise against his chest.

"But would Mei be okay with you leaving with me?" Kisame suddenly understood that Itachi left the Leaf without the Hokage's approval. He held Itachi tighter.

"She would. She knew I was gonna leave with you at some point." Itachi made the noise again. 

"Are you sure?" 

"I am, Itachi. We can tell Mei in the morning and then we can leave." Itachi shifted in his arms again.

"I want to leave right away." Kisame had expected Itachi would say something like that. He pulled Itachi over towards the bed.

"I know you do Itachi. But you look dead on your feet. Get some sleep and then we can leave as soon as you wake up. Okay?"

"But what if something happens to him tonight?" Itachi's voice was trembling again and it twisted Kisame's heart. He pulled Itachi down onto the bed and held him close.

"We have to hope it won't. You won't be any help to him if you pass out from chakra exhaustion." Itachi grumbled, but did relax as much as he could in Kisame's arms. 

Itachi fell asleep almost instantly. Kisame wondered if he had slept at all since he found out about Sasuke. He brushed a gentle kiss against the top of Itachi's head and tried to fall asleep too.

* * *

Kisame woke up before Itachi. It was still dark in the room, so he assumed it was early. He brushed a barely there kiss against the top of Itachi's head before carefully climbing out of bed. Itachi stayed asleep as he did. He also stayed asleep as Kisame gathered some supplies into his pack. He packed as much as he could reasonably carry.

Itachi was still asleep, but Kisame gently shook him awake. He knew Itachi would want to leave soon. "Hey Itachi." He woke up slowly. "How do you feel?"

"I'm okay. Are you sure you want to come with me?" Kisame grabbed one of Itachi's hands and squeezed it tightly.

"Yeah I'm sure." Itachi squeezed back.

"Thank you Kisame." Itachi got out of bed and got ready quickly. Kisame strapped Samehada to his back and then took one last look around his place. There was a pretty good chance that he was never going to see it again. They both pulled on their packs and left.

It was still early, but Kisame had a good feeling that Mei was already in her office. He led Itachi over to the Mizukage office with a promise that they would leave if she wasn't there. Itachi looked like he would rather them be on the road already, but he let himself be led.

Mei  _ was  _ in her office and she didn't look surprised to see them. "Sit down, boys." Itachi looked like he wanted to protest, but he sat down as Mei gave him a stern look. Kisame sat down too. "I got a letter from Tsunade yesterday telling me what happened with your brother and that she expected you to come here. She also said that if I did find you I should let her know and hold you here till someone could come and collect you." Kisame saw Itachi clench his jaw. "You're not one of my ninjas and, in light of our tentative alliance with the Leaf, I should do as she asks."

"Mei--" Kisame stopped talking as she threw him a sharp look.

"But the thing is, one of my best friends is crazy about you." Kisame felt the back of his neck go hot. "He's also the most loyal man I know, so there's no way I'd actually be able to keep you here even if I wanted to. I'm going to tell Tsunade that Kisame disappeared, most likely to join up with you, but also that no one here actually saw you." Itachi was looking at Mei in disbelief.

"Why would you do that for me?" She smiled at Itachi.

"Because you make Kisame happy. And I'm still holding out hope that you'll move here instead." She winked at Itachi, pulled something out of her desk, and then tossed it to him. It was a Mist headband. "I have no idea how Tsunade's going to handle this, but, as the current Mizukage, I am sending you both on a mission to find Sasuke Uchiha. If you need anything, the Mist will help." Itachi clutched the headband tightly, stood up, and bowed to Mei.

"Thank you Lady Mizukage." Itachi's voice trembled as he spoke. Mei got out of her chair and walked around her desk over to Itachi. 

"Stand up Itachi." He straightened up and then Mei immediately pulled him into a hug. After a moment he hugged her back. “I know I don’t need to tell you this, but I’m going to anyway. Take care of Kisame, okay?” Kisame felt embarrassed, but he also felt a warmth in his chest.

“I will Mei.” She let go of Itachi, walked over to Kisame, and tugged him out of his chair. Then she was hugging him tightly. 

“Make sure you all come back in one piece, alright?” Kisame laughed softly and hugged her back just as tightly.

“I will Mei. You’ll see us again in no time.” This time she laughed.

“I hope so. I’ll let everyone else know what happened.”

“Thanks Mei.” She brushed a quick kiss against his cheek before pulling away.

“Now get out of here before I change my mind.” She smiled at them, and they smiled back. Then they left as she sat back down behind her desk.

They left the village quickly and made sure no one saw them so Mei’s story to Tsunade wouldn’t be a complete lie. Kisame only looked back once. Seeing the village for potentially the last time tugged on his heart. But, as he looked toward Itachi, he knew he had to leave. They had a mission to complete and he knew it’d be successful because they didn’t have any other choice. Kisame took Itachi’s hand and followed him away from the Mist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this fic Sasuke's seal is messing with his brain and emotions to make him unbalanced and angry and power hungry. He doesn't want to leave and be a bad boy, but he's all messed up and Orochimaru is kind of influencing him through the seal. So sorry this sad thing happens! :(
> 
> But thank you for reading!!


	23. Epilouge

**Epilogue**

Kisame woke up as Itachi shifted onto his bad arm in his sleep. The pain was a lot more manageable than it had been, so Kisame didn't need to jerk away from him. But there was still some pain, so he adjusted his arm carefully so as to not wake Itachi. He'd have to wake up soon, but soon wasn't now. Kisame wanted to let him sleep just a bit more before everything he'd have to do today. He also just wanted to watch Itachi sleep for a bit as he knew it would be a while before they had a morning like this again. They had saved Sasuke and somehow survived everything that came afterwards, but today they were starting something new. So Kisame just wanted to lay in this moment of peace for a little longer.

Itachi woke up only a few minutes after Kisame had. He shifted in Kisame's arms before going completely still. "Oh your arm! Kisame, I'm sorry. Why didn't you move me?" Kisame moved them both now. He rolled onto his back and pulled Itachi so that he was laying on top of him. Then he pulled Itachi into a quick kiss before answering.

"I didn't have the heart to. Besides, my arm barely hurts anymore." Itachi looked at him like he didn't believe him. "I'm fine Itachi, I promise." The look softened a little. "Are you ready for your big day?" Itachi sighed.

"No. I just want to stay like this all day." 

"Naruto might steal the job away from you if you do." Itachi laughed, and Kisame could feel it in his chest.

"Maybe I should just let him have it." 

"We both know you don't mean that." Itachi sighed again. 

"You're right. Just...what if I'm bad at it?" Kisame held him tighter.

"You're going to be the best Hokage the village has ever had Itachi." He shifted so he could hide his face against Kisame's neck.

"How can you be sure?" His voice was muffled, but Kisame still heard the question clearly. 

"Because not only are you the best and smartest ninja I know, but also one of the kindest. You care about this village so much, and I know you'd do anything to protect it." Itachi made some kind of noise against his neck. "You're going to be a great Hokage Itachi Uchiha."

"Hoshigaki." His voice was still muffled, but Kisame still heard it clearly even if he didn't understand it.

"What?" Itachi pulled away slightly so he could look Kisame in the eye.

"Itachi Hoshigaki." Kisame felt a warmth in his chest and in his gut and even in his fingers. But he also felt a little confused.

“I know a lot’s happened in the last few years, but I think I would’ve remembered it if we got married.” Itachi’s face went pink all at once.

“I know we didn’t get married yet. But we….” Itachi trailed off as a dawning look of realization crossed his face. “I never asked you, did I?” Kisame laughed and saw Itachi’s blush darken. 

“No you didn’t. But I want to marry you too Itachi.” He moved his hands so he was holding Itachi’s face. His cheeks felt warm under his palms. “Sure you’d want to be a Hoshigaki though?” Itachi smiled at him. 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Kisame smiled back before pulling Itachi into a long kiss.

Kisame pulled away only when he felt Itachi slide a hand under his shirt. He wanted to keep kissing him and slide his own hand under Itachi’s shirt, but they couldn’t stay in bed all day. Itachi frowned down at him. “You can’t be late to your own inauguration.” Itachi sighed, but didn’t make any move to get out of bed. 

"I'm not going to be late. I just want to lay like this with you for a little longer. Please Kisame." Itachi was looking at him pleadingly. It was the specific look that Kisame was never able to say no to and now wasn't any different. He sighed and ran a hand through Itachi's hair.

"Okay Itachi. But if you  _ are _ late, you have to tell everyone it's your own fault." Itachi laughed, and Kisame felt it in his chest.

"Fair enough."

They eventually got out of bed and got ready. Kisame pulled on his Leaf uniform, which he was still getting used to wearing. Itachi pulled on his own uniform, but also tied his Mist headband around his upper arm. If he was still nervous, it didn't look like it. He had a look of determination on his face, as if he were about to complete a mission. Kisame grabbed Itachi's hand as soon as he reached out towards him. "Ready?" Itachi smiled up at him.

"No." Kisame laughed before kissing Itachi quickly. "Let's go before my father comes looking for me." Kisame laughed again and let Itachi pull him from the room.

Itachi pulled him through the village, which was pretty empty. Or it was until they got closer to the Hokage's tower. As they got closer, the crowd got clearer. It looked like everyone in the village was there, and they were all looking at the tower in interest. Itachi stopped walking and looked up at Kisame. He looked nervous again. "What if I can't do it?" His voice was small and unsure. Kisame dropped his hand so he could wrap him into a tight hug.

"You can Itachi and you won't be doing it alone." Itachi hugged him back just as tightly.

"I love you Kisame." He pulled away just far enough to lean down and kiss Itachi.

"I love you too Itachi." He could see Izumo--or maybe it was Kotetsu, Kisame was still trying to figure out the names of all the Leaf jonin--heading towards them quickly. He looked a bit frantic. "Looks like we  _ are _ late." Itachi laughed as he pulled away from Kisame. 

"I'll make sure to tell everyone it's my fault." Kisame laughed loudly. "I'll see you afterwards Kisame."

"Good luck Itachi." Kisame smiled at him as Kotetsu, or Izumo, led Itachi away.

Kisame headed over to the crowd when he couldn't see Itachi anymore. He felt awkward standing by himself, but then he could see Shisui waving him over. Kisame walked over to him and also saw Sasuke and Itachi's mom as he got closer. She smiled widely at him and Sasuke even gave him a small smile. Shisui smacked his back hard when he was close enough. "Hey Kisame. I'm guessing you're the reason Itachi's late?" Kisame felt the back of his neck get hot.

"Itachi made himself late." Shisui laughed loudly, and a couple of people glared over at them at the sound. 

"Is he nervous?" Itachi’s mom sounded nervous herself as she asked.

"Yeah. But I think that'll go away once he realizes how much of the job is actually just paperwork." She smiled kindly as Shisui laughed again. She looked like she was about to say something else, but then a hush fell over the crowd. They all looked at each other before looking up at the top of the tower.

Kisame could see Tsunade, the council, and the clan heads, including Itachi's dad. Then he could see Itachi. He felt a warmth in his chest as he saw him. Kisame only paid a little attention to Tsunade and the council as they spoke. But he straightened up as soon as Itachi moved closer to Tsunade. He watched in interest as Itachi took the hat and cloak from her and put them on himself. The warmth in his chest was joined by a heat low in his gut as he looked up at Itachi. He looked every bit like the legendary ninja Kisame knew him to be. Kisame could barely hear Itachi speak over the sound of his own heart beating loudly in his ears. He cheered loudly with Sasuke and Shisui once it looked like Itachi was finished speaking.

Shisui grabbed Kisame’s wrist as the crowd started to disperse and led him to the tower with Sasuke and Itachi’s mom. He pushed them past some anbu by the door and said ‘family of the Hokage’ as he did. The warmth in Kisame’s chest grew as Shisui said it and as he remembered what Itachi had said that morning. No one else tried to stop them as they walked through the tower towards the Hokage’s office.

Itachi was sitting behind the desk and behind mountains of papers. His dad was looking at him in pride as Tsunade was looking at him in excitement. He looked over at them as they entered and smiled softly. “Oh Itachi, I’m so proud.” His mom sounded like she was about to cry.

“As am I. To think, our son is the first Uchiha Hokage.” Itachi caught Kisame’s eye and then he winked. He felt the back of his neck get hot and hoped no one else saw it.

“I hope I’ll continue to make you proud.” Tsunade smacked one of the stacks of paper hard, and Kisame could hear the desk groan.

“I’m sure you will, Itachi. But for now you need to finish signing all these to finalize the successorship.” Itachi sighed before smiling at them all again.

“She’s right. I’ll see you all later.” They all smiled back, waved goodbye, and then turned to leave. “Wait. Kisame, come here for a second.” Shisui smiled at him knowingly as Kisame turned back around and walked over to Itachi. Itachi grabbed his hand as soon as he was close enough and then looked up at him like he was waiting for something. Kisame laughed softly.

“Are you sure?” Itachi just tugged on his hand in response, so Kisame leaned down to kiss him. Itachi gave him a small, soft smile when he pulled away.

“I’ll see you at home later?” Kisame felt that warmth in his chest as he smiled back.

“Yeah Itachi. I’ll see you at home.” 

"Itachi Hoshigaki." Itachi was quiet as he said it, but he was also smiling mischievously. Kisame laughed before leaning down to kiss him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the end!! I know it's a little abrupt, but I had just started this with a small idea of trying an in-canon fic for the first time. Originally it was just going to be them meeting on missions, but I wanted them to get to actually know each other and thought the chunin exams would be a good excuse! Please picture your own AU Shippuden here--I just really couldn't think of all the ways it would be different with Kisame and Itachi not in the Akatsuki and the Uchiha all alive. They'd probably stop everything from happening.
> 
> Thank you so much HelloThereGhoul for telling me this needed an epilogue and for everything <3 And thank you all so much for reading and all the kind comments!! <3


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